Hard Road
by SisterDramamine
Summary: (Sequel to Adeline, An Angel's Secret). Dean's out of trust & Sam's head is broken. Still they find themselves helping Castiel's daughter shake Fate while attempting to save the smite happy angel from his own son. Meanwhile, Adeline struggles to find peace in Heaven as Castiel plays God. What will the road uncover for the Winchesters? Who will survive & what will remain?
1. 1 - Dean

**Disclaimer/Note: Who has two thumbs and doesn't own/is not affiliated with Supernatural? This girl. I still don't own anything. Shocker, right? Written as, more or less, an "alternative" seventh season.  
**

**Welcome to part two of my angel story. For those of you who are just joining us, this ****_is_**** a sequel. Do you need to read the first one to understand this one? Not necessarily, but it could help.  
For those who are returning, welcome back! I hope you continue to enjoy & don't forget; reviews are not necessary, but are loved all the same.**

**Let's get to it then, shall we? In three... two... one...**

**Dean**

Shock isn't really the best word to describe what we're all feeling, but for some reason it's the only one I can think of. Bodies frozen in surprise, our eyes stare wide in confusion as our jaws gape in awe at the beautiful, naked blonde who calls herself Cassandra. Believe it or not, the fact that she's not wearing any clothes is actually the farthest thing from my mind. Call me crazy but my concentration rests somewhere between watching her fall from the night sky at impossible speeds and the fact she now sits before us in this crumbling old barn amongst a bed of forgotten hay, intact and breathing.

What the hell is she?

"I'm new," she tells us with a small, pure smile brightened by moon light that pours through the sizable hole her crash landing created in the roof above.

Great. The last time we encountered something new it tried to suck our blood and eat our brains. If star ships hadn't put us off anything "new", I don't know what would.

I exchange a questioning glance with Bobby and Sammy before our gaze returns to the mysterious creature. One thing is certain, she's not a human. Attractive as hell, but not one of us.

Even with her back turned to us we can see her shiver as she hugs herself, attempting to warm her chilly bones. Her radiant, blue eyes blink sweetly at me and I can't tell if her innocent demeanor is real or if she's just a really good actress.

"Could I trouble one of you for a jacket?" she asks politely. Again the three of us exchange a quick, hesitant and questioning glance before I slowly begin to pull my black jacket from my shoulders. I take a cautious step towards her, my eyes never leaving her as I make my gradual approach. My gun I let hang at my side, loose but ready. In my line of work you never know when a pretty face is going to tear a hole in your neck with her teeth.

Standing just behind her perfect, naked body my eyes stare at the intricate scars that cover a good portion of her otherwise flawless back, taking the pristine form of feathery wings. I resist the urge to trace this scar with my finger tips when I feel her gaze fall to me and I gently place my coat around her shoulders.

"Thank you," she whispers with a gratified breath.

"W-where did you come from?" Bobby finally chokes out. Cassandra closes my jacket around her body before finally turning to face us. Her gaze she directs up and to the night sky.

"Up there," she tells us with a happy, unhesitant air. "I believe you know it as Heaven."

"So you're... an angel?" Sammy half states, half asks as his head tilts slightly in fascination.

"Well, sort of I guess," Cassandra responds smoothly, her eyes falling to my brother. "Half angel anyway."

"Half angel?" Bobby echoes in the form of a question. "How is that even possible?"

"My mother was a mortal," is her simple explanation, which really only raises further questions.

"Why are you here, Cas?" Sammy asks as I shoot him a glare.

"Dude, don't call her Cas," I tell him from Cassandra's side. "That's just going to get confusing."

"Sorry," Sam mumbles with a roll of his eyes. "What about Cassie?"

"I have no qualms with this nickname," she speaks for herself. "And I am here because Heaven is an unsafe place for me to be. Fate was, as you say, after me."

Fate. Well, shit.

"Um... can we ask why?" I ask, a wave of uneasiness washing over me at the name of that crazy bitch.

"My parents had a knack for, what do you say, fouling her agenda." Pause. "I'm not supposed to exist."

Peachy. First the friggin' cloud of demon smoke destroys my car, then my best friend turns himself into some worship hungry God and now I find out Fate's about to come calling. I can't seem to catch a break today.

"Let's get you out of here," I finally say, offering a hand to the young, half celestial being, knowing fully well the longer we sit the easier it will be for Fate to locate her. Us. "We'll get you some place warm and get you some clothes."

Unwaveringly Cassandra accepts my aid and places a hand into mine before she can rise to a set of highly unstable feet. Her legs wobble for a minuet and when her knees buckle I'm left to catch her before her delicate body can hit the ground. Our faces only inches apart, our eyes can't help but lock and, despite the fact this young, er, "thing" is a complete stranger, there is a strange familiarity she holds that I find oddly calming and a little breath taking.

"I'm Dean, by the way," I tell her as I gradually stand her upright. The expression she gives me at my introductory says she knows this name.

"Dean... Dean Winchester?" she asks before her gaze shifts from me to my companions. "You're Sam and Bobby. Bobby Singer."

"Yes," Sammy slowly confirms. "You've heard of us?"

"You could say that," Cassandra nods, holding tightly onto my strong frame for support as her feeble legs continue to unstably sway. "I think you are friends of my father's."

"Who's your dad?" Bobby wants to know and I pray to God she doesn't say Raphael, Zachariah or Michael.

"Castiel."

At least she didn't say Lucifer.


	2. 2 - Sam

**Sam**

The room blazes hot with an intense fire, consuming everything in its path. I can hear the hollow screams and the cries for help, but I don't know where they're coming from. Seemingly, they come from everywhere. A dark figure moves before me and I can see that it's Dean, only his face is melting before my very eyes. He opens his mouth to speak but, instead of words, a swarm of insects spew forward with a deafening bellow.

_Sam_ the swarm seems to growl. _Sam... Sam..._

"Sam!"

I blink. Sun light creeps through the dirty window panes and stretches itself happily across Bobby's living room which, as it turns out, is not on fire. Dean's face, while not melting, displays a mixture of irritation and concern.

"You okay?" he asks with a cocked brow and bugs don't fly from his lips.

"Yeah," I shake my head. "I just... I thought I had a headache coming on, but I'm fine now."

"Good," he believes me and tries to stifle an oncoming yawn. "Come on. Bobby made breakfast for everyone."

I silently follow my older brother, hiding a yawn of my own. We're exhausted, all of us. Well, maybe not Cassie. What happened is her legs were so unstable, Dean ended up carrying her a good ten miles before we could find a vehicle that would take us the rest of the way to Bobby's. And she slept like a baby the whole time.

"Hey, do you really think Cassie is Cas's kid?" I wonder out loud.

"I don't know," Dean admits, his voice quiet. "She does seem pretty innocent."

Not that an innocent act is difficult to pull off. But I get what he's saying. The innocence she gives off is less womanly and more childlike. It's pure and untainted. Castiel's or not, there's no way she's not at least half celestial.

Cassie is seated at the table when we enter the kitchen, dressed in a pair of jeans ten sizes too big and a long sleeved plaid shirt that fits her just as awkwardly. Bobby's eyes are glued to her with a bewildered amusement and it doesn't take Dean or I too long to figure out what's so fascinating. Our little half human has just devoured nearly a half pound's worth of bacon and she doesn't show signs of slowing down.

"This is amazing," she speaks through a mouthful of fried pork. "You have to tell me what this is called!"

"Bacon," Bobby says, his head tilting slightly in wonder. "I'll make some more."

I help myself to a cup of hot coffee and take a seat across the table from the curious Cassie who shovels the delicious food into her mouth with both hands as if she's never eaten before in her life. And then it dawns on me that there's a good chance she hasn't.

"Say, Cassandra," Dean begins, his eyes unable to leave the scene before him as he invites himself to take the empty seat beside her. "Don't take this personally but, how old are you?"

"I'll be 40 weeks in two days," she replies, her eyes falling to his coffee. "May I try that?"

As he silently slides his mug to her, I can see Dean's face fall in a momentary lapse of disappointment and, quite possibly, embarrassment. Any attraction, any lust he felt for the beautiful young, er, _girl_, has been completely squashed by the fact she's technically an infant. He probably feels like a pervert now, too.

"So you were born about nine months ago?" I question, watching as she gulps happily from Dean's mug.

"Well, no," she shakes her head as she wipes coffee from her lips with the sleeve of her oversized shirt. "I've existed for nine months. I was born last night."

"How is that even possible?" Dean has to ask. "I mean, how are you sitting here, having a full on conversation with us, looking like Miss friggin' America when you're less than a day old?"

"I've had cognitive thought since the beginning," she explains simply, her eyes wandering to the plate of scrambled eggs and pancakes before her. "I was mostly aware of the world around me when my mom was pregnant. As to why I look like this Miss America, I don't have an answer for you. I've been told I look like my mom."

"Wait, so you could hear everything around you?" I ask curiously as she picks up a large pancake with her bare hands and tears into it with her teeth. "That's how you learned to talk?"

"That," she speaks with a mouthful of food. "And I kind of absorbed my mom's thoughts and memories."

"Who exactly is your mom?" Dean wants to know.

"No one you know," Cassie replies before bringing a handful of eggs to her lips. "Say, does anyone know what happened to my father? Did he do it?"

We know what she means. She wants to know if Cas, her dad, opened Purgatory.

"Yes," Dean speaks distantly with a bitter note in his response.

"How did it happen?" she wants to know.

So we tell her. As our story unfolds her face falls, the news bringing a sense of sadness to the young girl. Somewhere in her brief state of sorrow, she finds a strange relief in our tale.

"I'm sorry he did these things," she tells us with a sincere breath. "But I do find comfort in the fact you were against it as well. My dad never mentioned your position on the whole affair."

"Your mother and you," I speak. "You were against it too?"

"Of course," she nods. "We all were."

"We?" I echo.

"Adelay was against it, too," she goes on, referencing a person none of us know.

"Who's Adelay?" Dean questions.

"My brother," she tells us in a casual tone.

"You mean there's two of you?" Bobby jumps in, already fascinated by the fact that one exists at all.

"Yes," she nods simply. "Which reminds me, I should look for him."

"Well, where is he?" Bobby urges her to share with us.

"It's hard to say," Cassie replies, finishing Dean's coffee with a long swallow. "We had a bit of fight on the way down. I may have, what do you say, punched him, which caused his Earth bound course to veer away from me and mine."

What could two newborns possibly have to fight about?

"It was over something we were told before we escaped Heaven," she goes on, as if she knew precisely what I was thinking. "The spirit Ash who helped us through the barrier warned us against killing my dad. 'Don't let them kill Castiel,' is what he said right before we fell. 'Don't let your dad die'."

The three of us exchange a quick glance of nervous guilt. If this "spirit Ash" is the Ash we're all thinking of, then that makes us the "they". Only it's not like we could actually kill Castiel, even if we wanted to. Which we all kind of do, but we won't tell this to Cassie.

"Why exactly are you supposed to prevent your dad from being killed?" Dean wants to know. Cassie just shrugs as she takes her final bite of breakfast.

"He didn't say," she speaks before helping herself to my coffee.

"Why did a fight spark from that?" I can't figure out.

"Because," she says in that simple, calm tone of hers. "Adelay wants to kill our father."


	3. 3 - Adeline

**Adeline**

I lay flat on my back in the small boat as it gently drifts around the small lake of my father's Heaven, my eyes fixed upon the fluffy white clouds that sail across a vibrantly blue sky so peacefully it's nearly taunting. My hand lifts a cold can of beer to my lips and I take a long swallow. Only I can't get drunk here. Which is a shame, because I've got a broken heart that could use some numbing.

I can't go to my own Heaven. There is nothing serene about that place, not for me. Not anymore. The place it resembles is a part of what once was my favorite memory, and now it only encourages the crippling sorrow that clings tightly within me.

Sometimes I can't help but wonder if he knows exactly what he did to me and if he even cares anymore.

In the distance I can hear dad make his way through the lush forests, fallen leaves crunching loudly beneath his heavy black boots while he strolls the grounds. As his foot steps grow distant in his forage through the trees, I can feel an intensely familiar presence standing at the shore. I don't have to look to know who it is, and I don't. If he's alive, I'm not ready to see what he's become.

"Adeline," he calls to me.

Please, not now. The pain is still too fresh for this new hell you bring me.

"Adeline," he speaks again and now there's no avoiding it, because now he sits with me in the boat.

Gradually I lift my weary being into an upright position, cautiously scanning him with eyes that would be bloodshot with tears if my soul were capable of producing such a thing anymore. To anyone else he would look exactly the way he did only days prior; blue eyes, dark hair, handsome facial features, tan trench coat. To me, he doesn't look the same at all.

There used to be a light in his blue eyes that shown brightly with a loving compassion but now all I can see is a dark and unquenchable thirst for vengeance. He used to have a kind and gentle face that now bears a hard expression of unwavering self righteousness. He used to be a humble and caring angel and now he's just a jerk with wings and false, unnatural powers.

I wish he would go away.

He must know what I'm thinking because his stern composure softens and, for a split second, I swear I can see a subtle look of shame sweep across his graying eyes.

"Why?" I whisper at last. "Why have you come here?"

"I missed you," he tells me, as though it should be obvious. "I wanted to see you."

He lifts a tender hand to my face but I turn my head away from his touch.

"Adeline, please," he all but pleads in a soft, almost sad voice.

"I can't," I tell him, turning my eyes to the glassy reflection of the sky in the calm lake around us. "I... I just can't." I pause to stare at my own reflection in the clean waters. "You broke my heart."

"I wish I could make you understand," he tells me for the hundredth time on the matter. "I did this for us. It was the only way."

"No, Castiel," I speak, my tone cold and short. "You did this for yourself. And you did this to me."

I watch his reflection move into view of my own as he gazes sorrowfully upon me.

"I'm sorry, Adeline," he quietly speaks. "I never meant to cause the pain you feel. Please, let me free you from this burden."

"You can't free me from this one, Castiel," I snap sharply, angrily bringing my eyes back to him. "I have no body for you to heal. This pain I feel, that's in me. My soul. Forever."

"Please," he nearly begs. "There must be something I can do."

"You want to free me from this?" I stare at him through eyes slivered in rage. "Then end me."

Astonished, Castiel blinks silently and I can see his own pain rising somewhere between his lust for revenge and the smug pride he holds in his ill gotten powers. But it's still no where close to what he has caused me. He knocked me up and abandoned me. He let me die - twice. He was absent for the birth of our children and he wasn't there when they were taken away from me. I never even got to see them.

The worst part is all this happened in his mad obsession with locating a Purgatory ripe with souls for the taking. The one freaking thing I begged him not to do. For a minuet, I hope he does put an end to my torturous and miserable existence.

"Where is Cassandra?" he quietly asks, his gaze still upon me. He doesn't know about Adelay, and I don't tell him. I don't know why. I'm sure he'll figure it out sooner than later.

"Earth," I respond coldly. His brow furrows at this.

"Where? Why?"

"I don't know where," I sigh sadly. "Fate is why."

"I'll take care of that," he promises me. "But right now I have some things to attend to."

He leans forward, expecting me to accept the kiss he's dying to place upon my lips. As if everything was like it used to be. Wrong.

"Castiel, please," I whisper as I again turn away from his affections. "Just go."

He gives me a hurt look before pathetically attempting an encouraging smile. And he's gone. But he'll be back. He always comes back. More likely than not, it's what got me here in the first place.


	4. 4 - Dean

**Dean**

"Do you think this is such a good idea?"

Bobby confronts me in his living room, brightened by the tauntingly cheerful noon day sun that pours brightly through the dusty window panes. Sammy sits comfortably upon the tattered sofa with his computer open on his lap, his fingers typing madly as he enters data into random search engines and web sites. Bobby stands before a mess of books, scattered and open along his desk but his attention rests on me.

I know what he means. Honestly, I don't know what to tell him. Castiel, my best and only friend, just betrayed me, betrayed us, and left me fresh out of trust. Then there's the complete exhaustion that nags at me, making it close to impossible for me to care about much at all. Yet here I am, ready and willing to protect the incredibly young blonde bomb shell while she attempts to save the very creature I could currently give two shits about.

"Probably not," I tell him at long last, helping myself to a glass of Scotch as I speak. "Are any of our ideas all that good?"

"Well, no," Bobby agrees. "But taking Cassie in like this with Fate after her? I'm sure you boys remember what Fate's like and that grudge she probably still holds against you." He pauses to take the rocks glass I extend in his direction. "Do you even believe she's Cas's daughter?"

I don't know what to believe anymore. But I don't think she's making it up.

"I think I found something," Sam pipes up from his seat on the couch, his eyes never leaving the computer screen before him. "According to the LA Times, an unidentified object came sailing out of the sky last night and crash landed into a construction site near the freeway. It says they found an unconscious, unclothed male around twenty five years old at the scene. Somehow he vanished before an ambulance could show up."

"You think it's Cassandra's brother?" I ask before I take a slow sip from my glass.

"It kind of fits the story so far," Sammy agrees. "The only question is where did he go?"

"That and how he got there," Bobby interjects. "You boys sure you want to get tangled up in this one?"

"What else are we supposed to do?" Sammy questions, sleepily looking up from his computer. "We can't just send her off on her own. She didn't even know what bacon was. What chance does she have out there on her own? Besides, Cas would do the same for us."

"You mean if one of us suddenly turned into a vengeful god?" I mutter into my glass.

"There's a thought," Bobby rolls his eyes.

I know Sammy's right. We can't abandon her. She's a young and potentially powerful creature whose own abilities remain a complete mystery. We can't just unleash that on the world. Cas only knows what would happen.

The stair case creaks as Cassie makes a shaky decent followed closely by Sherif Jody Mills.

"Everything I got fits," the good sherif declares as she presents the half angel dressed in clothes that fit her small frame. Instead of the oversized attire from Bobby's closet she now wears a sleek black leather jacket over top a black and white striped tank top, along with slim fitting black jeans and a pair of black and white Chuck Taylor's. I have to pour myself another drink to tear my eyes away from her.

So, yes, the age factor is a little bothersome. The fact that she's Castiel's daughter just makes it all the more wrong. Still, I can't help the way I feel when she rests her deep blue eyes on me and gives me that full, pure smile of hers. It makes my heart race and makes me forget where I am. And it's scary as hell.

"Thank you, Sherif," Bobby expresses his gratitude as he steps around his desk. "I was dreading going lady clothes shopping."

"Not a problem," Jody replies in a friendly tone with a small smile. "And call me Jody. How's the research coming?"

"Well, there ain't nothing in any of these books on what we've got going on over here," Bobby replies, motioning to Cassandra. "I don't think anything's ever been written on the subject of half angels."

"I told you," Cassandra speaks with a small, prideful smile. "I'm new."

"I might have found Adelay's last known location," Sammy chimes in, rising warily to his feet. "Los Angeles."

"At least you have a place to start," Jody tries to encourage our miniscule findings. "What can I do to help?"

"I think you've been more than helpful already," Bobby tells her and I know what he's thinking; he doesn't want her to get hurt.

Awe, Bobby has a crush.

"However," I begin when I see the look of disappointment cross Jody's face. "If you happen to hear of or see a guy that looks just like Cassie, you could give us a call." Pause. "Or a young, pissed off looking librarian with a black leather book."

"She doesn't have her book," Cassie is quick to tell us, a statement that rapidly gets our attention.

"What do you mean?" I want to know.

"What? Who?" Jody is dying to know who we're talking about.

"Fate," Cassie quickly fills her in. "We met her at the gates of Heaven. Adelay some how wound up with it before we managed to send her spiraling through what was probably several thousand Heavens."

I kind of want to know how that happened, but I don't bother asking. It does bring a small sense of relief knowing she's been able to fend off Fate before. And that she does have some sort of mystical powers hiding somewhere within her.

"Wait, Fate?" Jody's still a little lost on our world. "As in fate? Destiny?"

"Yeah," Bobby replies. "She's an angel. Or something like that anyway."

"And she's a bitch," I can't help but throw in.

"Which reminds me," Sammy quietly interjects. "We should probably hit the road soon. If Adelay has her book, I'll bet she'll be going after him first."

Once again, Sammy's right. Only I'm not sure I want to go. My fatigued mind struggles to fully agree with our mission. There's a good chance I lack the trust required for this job.

But I'll do it. I always end up doing it. Because no one else can. Or will.

And yes, I'm going to pretend it has nothing to do with the way she looks at me or the profound sensations she causes me to feel. No one needs to know I have a crush on my best friend's kid. Especially when nothing can ever come of it.


	5. 5 - Sam

**Sam**

The outside of the building looks like any old diner, but when I go inside I see nothing ordinary about this place. Each and every window is boarded up with thick sheets of black painted plywood sealed so tightly not a single stray beam of daylight can enter. The only source of light comes from a single bulb that dangles dimly from the celling in the center of what should be the dining room. It's not a lot, but it's enough for me to see this light is not the only thing hanging from the ceiling.

Long, heavy chains rattle in the dark and I can make out the forms of the people that hang from them. I can hear them, too. They scream hysterically for me to help them as sharp, rusted hooks dig deeper and deeper into their fragile flesh. Their clothes, the floor, it's all soaked in blood. Most of them don't even have half a face left and all of them are missing at least one limb.

I turn with a quick heel to look at Dean and his reaction to this massacre we've stumbled upon. He glances up to me and says;

"Let's eat."

"_What_?" I gasp. Dean furrows his brows.

"Let's eat," he slowly repeats himself. "It's what we came here for, right?"

I blink. Suddenly, it's not a human slaughter house. It's actually a regular old diner with regular old people enjoying their regular old food. No hooks or chains, no blood on the floor or boards on the window.

Great, I'm cracking up. I'd like to think it's due to my exhaustion, but I know better than that. I've gone longer without sleep and I never saw anything like this before. Cas broke my head. End of story. I just hope I can keep this to myself. While he'll never admit to it, what Cas did to us has Dean at the end of his rope as is. If he knew how broken my head really is...

"Hey, Cassie," I can hear Dean speak as the three of us occupy an empty booth. "If you like bacon, you should try a burger. Better yet, a bacon cheese burger."

"Do you think they have any of that black stuff?" I hear Cassie ponder out loud as she settles herself into the booth next to me.

"Coffee?" Dean asks. "Yeah, there's a pretty good chance they do."

"Can I get you folks something to drink?"

A middle aged brunet woman appears at the table side with a small note pad and a pen. She looks like a really nice lady. She also looks like a burn victim.

"Oh my!" Cassie gasps as her eyes fall to our server. "What happened to your face?!"

Ooh, shit.

I elbow the young girl sharply in the ribs while Dean sends her a strong, disapproving stare. My eyes glance up in time to see tears well rapidly behind green eyes and, in a flash, our server is gone.

"You can't go around saying stuff like that," Dean tells Cassie with a stern voice.

"I'm sorry," she apologizes, hanging her head in embarrassment. "Did I offend her?"

"Well, she ran off crying," my brother points out. "So I'm guessing you did."

"I'm sorry," she says again. "I didn't mean to. I am pretty new at this whole, what do you say, social networking?"

"I think you mean interaction," I correct her. "Don't beat yourself up over it. You didn't know. It's just not polite to point out other's misfortunes. Loudly."

"In general," Dean is quick to add. Cassie nods in a silent understanding and I can almost hear the wheels turning in her young mind as she processes this new information.

"So, Sammy," Dean turns his attention on me. "How's your head?"

"It's fine," I lie. "A little sore but I'm alright."

He doesn't believe me, but he lets it go for the time being. I don't want him to know about the things I see. He always finds a way to make every little thing his fault and I don't want him to feel the burden of guilt. Not for this.

"Holy..." I can hear Cassie's faint mutterings. "There is something seriously wrong with her face..."

This again? Already?

Dean and I glance up at the approaching waitress, a young woman with short blonde hair, sky blue eyes and a flawless, tanned complexion. Cassie stares fearfully with wide eyes at this rather good looking waitress and I can't quite understand what's so wrong with her. I cast a questioning glance in Dean's direction, but he's staring at the waitress now too. Not with fear, but rather an intense hatred I only see in his eyes when we're hunting one thing.

Now I get it.

"You folks ready to-" the waitress stops mid-sentence when she looks upon Dean, her eyes turning black as they sweep themselves to me. "Oh, shit..."

"Well, well, well," Dean speaks with a plastic smile. "What have we here?"

"Look, I'm not here to cause trouble," she speaks in a low tone. "I'm just trying to find a place to hide."

"Or Crowley's up to something," Dean spits. A light goes on in Cassie's head and she looks between Dean and the waitress.

"Crowley," she repeats the name. "The king of Hell? You're a demon."

If this demon hadn't noticed our little half angel before, she does now.

"Yes," she slowly replies, her eyes furiously scanning Cassie. "What the hell are you?"

It's a rhetorical question, or it's at least what we treat it as. If Crowley doesn't already know about Cassie's existence, why share a good secret? But the demon is determined to know what this half human is.

"I'd say you're a psychic," the demon begins to speculate. "But you're too pure to be a human, and you're too dirty to be celestial."

"Actually, my father was an ang-" Cassie begins but I'm quick to stop her with another sharp jab to the ribcage with my elbow.

"A little half angel, huh?" the demon says with a smug smile on her face and a menacing twinkle in her eye. "How delightfully scandalous. Tell me, who is your father? Is it Gabriel? Balthazar?"

"Cas-"

I elbow Cassie again and begin to second guess our hasty decision to bring her into public.

"Castiel!" the demon all but shouts with a gleeful amusement. "As I live and breath... Crowley will be so pleased I found you."

"Crowley knows?" I wonder aloud.

"Not yet," the demon replies as her grin grows wider and her eyes brighter.

"No!" Cassie pleads. "Crowley can't know about me..."

She reaches out to grasp the demon's arm and when she does, a familiar cloud of thick, black smoke comes screaming out from the waitress's lips. It's not long before the blonde woman collapses to the floor, unconscious but breathing.

It's good to know Cassie can do that.

And then we notice every eye in the house is staring at us as a manager comes running to aid his sleeping employee.

"What are we thinking?" I mutter as we all gradually begin to grow uncomfortable with the sudden and unrelenting attention we're receiving.

"I'm thinking about going to the drive through at the other end of town," Dean replies quietly as we slowly edge out of our seats and slink away. "By the way, Cassie. If you ever see one of those ugly son of a bitches again, you have my full permission to call them that to their face."


	6. 6 - Castiel

**Castiel**

Let's get one thing clear. I am not a god. I am _**GOD**_. Some one had to step up to the plate, be the leader. My Father made it clear he no longer wants the job and Raphael would have destroyed the Earth. So I rose up to the challenge and I took the throne. It was a long, arduous road, one that lost me my best friend, my beloved Adeline and possibly our child. But I took it and, damn it, I deserve this title. This power.

I haven't ignored the pain I've brought upon Dean and Adeline. My actions caused Dean to feel the sharp pangs of betrayal and Adeline to suffer the harsh sorrows of abandonment. I can see why they think I did these things to them. I wish I could make them see I did this for them. If anything they should be grateful. Without me, they'd both be burning in the eternal flames of Hell at this very moment.

There is no remorse I can speak of on my behalf. Little remorse, anyway. The only moment my confidence has faltered thus far is when I look into Adeline's eyes. Her beautiful blue eyes are lightless and hollow, painting a dark portrait of the overwhelming grief that burdens her.

_Oh Adeline. What have I done?_

I'll show her I'm still the same Castiel that loves and cares for her, not the dark beast she now sees me as. I'll make this right. I'll prove I did this for her. For us.

I start with taking my just vengeance on those who stood against me in my battle to the top. Easily I pluck them from the sky, one by one, just so I can see the light go out on each of their faces. Half of them, my brothers and sisters, laid to waste at my hands and I do not weep. I feel no grief as I dole my punishment to those who chose to fight me and endanger my friends. In fact, it feels good. Liberating, freeing. Relieving.

And I've only just begun.

You see, I aim to be a compassionate and scrupulous God. I will love and take care of my flock of imperfect mortals, shielding them from the wicked as only I, God, can. Which will require a thinning of the heard. A purification, if you will. Many evil things freely roam my Earth and most of them are, more or less, human. The time has come to put a halt to their misdeeds and greed.

And I know just who to start with.

I find myself standing before a small, square building somewhere in the midwest. To most people, this building is nothing special; just a tiny radio station in the middle of nowhere. They don't realize the lies, the hypocrisy and the absolute hate that spews from these particular airwaves.

Certain I have come to the right place, I invite myself into the tiny studio where an obese, silver haired white male with rosy cheeks and watery green eyes rants angrily into a microphone behind a desk filled with electrical knobs, switches and buttons.

"- is appalling! We're rapidly loosing our morals in this country, and..."

He freezes when he notices he's not alone and sends me an inquisitive stare.

"Dash Tango," I speak as he nods slowly. "I'd like to speak to you in regards to your radio show."

"Yes, yes," the aging man fumbles, attempting to improvise in this bizarre scenario. "Of course. Folks, we have a surprise guest here to elaborate on some of the issues we've covered today. Sir, would you mind introducing yourself to our listening audience?"

"I am God," I tell him, slowly approaching his desk but I do not sit down. This shouldn't take long.

"Looks like we have a trickster here, folks," this Dash man tries to chuckle.

"This is not a joke," I'm quick to continue. "I know of the things you say and do. They differ greatly, you know."

"What...?" the heavy radio host gives me a lost but nervous look.

"You speak of family values," I continue without skipping a beat. "Tell me, Dash, how is your mistress? And the son you disowned because he happens to like men? You talk about patriotism when you call for the blood of elected politicians you happen to disagree with. You push the Christian bible while you sit idly by on your mountain of ill-gotten wealth as people around you suffer and starve."

He stares at me with bewildered eyes, both horrified I know such things and skeptical as to how I have this information.

"I don't... he's just kidding folks..."

"I am not 'just kidding'," I cut him off. "I am indeed God and you are a hypocritical hate monger who spreads lies and fear. Half the words that come from your lips are untrue and all of your actions are for your personal benefit. I can no longer sit idly by and tolerate this sort of filth to roam freely upon my Earth."

"Look, buddy," he leans in, his thick hand wrapping tightly around his microphone in attempt to silence our conversation from his audience. "I don't know who you are..."

"I am God," I repeat for the third time. "And your time, Dash Tango, is up."

Before the words can really sink in, his face grows redder and redder by the second. His breathing becomes struggled and his voice raspy as he chokes for breath. A fat, meaty hand grasps his chest as sharp, shooting pains over take certain parts of his rapidly expiring body.

Fatal heart attack.

Dead air.

Dead hypocrite.

One down, millions to go.

I hope Adeline and Dean can see all the good things I'm doing.


	7. 7 - Dean

**Dean**

"What is that big shiny thing?"

"Where are we?"

"What are those black and white things?"

"How much further do we have to go?"

"Can we stop here and look at that?"

All friggin day with the questions. Her eyes light up at every new thing she sees as her lips curve with wonder and excitement. Every new thing she sees, she wants to stop and get a closer look. We stop at the side of the road so she can pet the "black and white things" (commonly known as "cows"). She has us pull over near some river so she can feel the cool water as it cuts smoothly through the land. A field of deer catches her eye and she compels us to stop so she can watch them bound into the forest beyond. That's not even the half of it.

Cas damn it it's getting annoying.

And it's put us way behind schedule.

"You say no to those puppy eyes," is what I tell Sammy when he pulls a Captain Obvious and points this out to me. Sure it's annoying but it makes her happy which, for some strange reason, makes me happy. And don't get me started on those intense and compelling eyes of hers. I'd be willing to bet a single glance from Cassie could get even Crowley to do her bidding.

By now the road before me has been dark for hours, illuminated only by the high beams of this piece of crap 80's model Buick I'm forced to drive with my poor Impala being completely decommissioned. Cassie dozes peacefully in the back seat as the radio quietly hums some Zeppelin from a nearby radio station.

"You think she killed that demon back there?" Sammy asks me.

"No," I shake my head. "I think she just exorcised it."

"Yeah," he mutters. "I was afraid of that."

"I wouldn't worry too much about it, Sammy," I attempt assurance. "Crowley and any other demon currently on Earth are hiding from New God."

"That's just it," he goes on. "They're scared because they don't have any leverage on Cas. From a demon's point of view, they'll probably see Cassie as just that."

"If that demon is in Hell, there's no way that news is hitting the surface any time soon," I half speculate, half state. "Besides, Cas sees all. He wouldn't let anything happen to her."

"If Cas cared about her, then where is he?"

Touché.

"I'm going to try to get a little shut eye," Sammy tells me when I don't say anything.

"I'll trade you seats," Cassie's quiet voice comes suddenly from the back seat.

I pull to the side of the road so they can swap and before too long she's sitting in the passenger seat and we're headed west once more. For a while we sit in silence, save for the sounds of static and Foreigner. Her eyes take in the dark road ahead of us and I'm surprised she's not asking any questions.

"How long have you been awake?" I break the quietude as Sammy begins to snore somewhere in the back.

"Long enough to hear Sam doesn't think my father cares for me," she speaks softly.

"He does," I try to assure her but my voice lacks confidence. Sammy's right. It's questionable.

"Yeah, sure," she says distantly, her eyes busy watching the darkened scenery that rushes by her. "Sam's not the only one who thinks that. My brother, Adelay, he thinks this too." She pauses to let a small sigh escape her lips. "Adelay thinks dad abandoned us. We both know the pain this caused our mother."

"Is that why he wants Cas dead?" I can't help but ask. Cassandra nods.

"What about you?" I go on. "What do you think?"

"I don't think he's wrong," she tells me calmly. "But I'm not angry like Adelay is. I don't think killing our father would make anything right."

From the sounds of things, it might actually make things worse.

"I'm sure he'll come for you," I try to encourage her but, again, my tone lacks conviction. "He's probably just tying up loose ends. He'll be here any day."

I feel like I'm ten again, telling my six year old brother that dad's on his way home, he'll be here any minuet now.

She gives me a small smile. She doesn't believe me.

"What's that light?" she wants to know, dropping the conversation entirely to attend to the magical world she is literally seeing for the first time.

Must be nice to see this place through her eyes.

"Where? On the horizon behind us?" I ask, noticing her gaze has become fixed upon the rear view mirror. "That's the sunrise."

"Wow," she breathes as she spins around to get a better look, truly amazed by something that, to me, lost its luster years ago.

She doesn't ask me to but, for one reason or another, I find myself pulling to the side of the road. I put the car in park and kill the engine as Cassie sends me a questioning stare.

"It's not the best place to watch a sun rise," I tell her as I slowly climb out of the car. "But it'll have to do."

Wordlessly she follows me into the remains of the cool night where we sit on the trunk of the car. Her excited eyes sparkle at the colors that splash vibrantly throughout the morning sky as the sun gradually rises and, for a minuet, I can almost feel the powerful fascination she carries for this simple, every day display of nature. Strangely, for a beautiful moment in time, I feel calm.

I haven't felt calm since I was four.

When the sky turns from yellow and orange to blue, we hit the road once more. The shoddy speakers begin to leak white noise and my fingers fiddle with the buttons in search of a new station. Country. Country. Soft Rock. Alternative.

Something familiar catches my ears but it's not music.

"Dash Tango," the deep, gruff voice speaks through the radio. "I'd like to speak to you in regards to your radio show."

Cassie immediately recognizes the voice as her father's and we listen carefully as the obviously surprised radio host tries to improvise. We listen as Cas exposes dirty little secrets and can almost hear the embarrassment radiating from the popular radio personal.

"I am God. And your time, Dash Tango, is up."

We can hear audible choking before I hastily switch the station. Cassie remains reserved as I find a Hendrix song on a classic rock channel, the once happy expression on her face falling rapidly at her dad's radio debut.

Yeah, he's totally coming for you, Cassie. He's on his way, I promise.

I'm such a dick.


	8. 8 - Sam

**Sam**

Slowly I come to the waking world and it doesn't take me long to discover everything is quiet. Too quiet. It causes me to bolt upright from the back seat of the motionless car as I try to grab a hold of my bearings.

I can see the sun gradually rise in the east beyond the deep and vast canyons I recognize almost immediately. When I climb out of the car I can make out the silhouettes of Dean and Cassie as they sit together on the ledge, silently watching the oncoming of day.

And then it happens. It goes off quite suddenly and extremely close. A bomb of the nuclear variety. The blast of hot light consumes my brother and the half angel, disintegrating their flesh to leave nothing but their bones. It reaches out to me and, for some reason, I can't help but try to shield myself from this certain death.

Which is, of course, when I realize none of this his happening.

From the car speakers I can hear radio DJs chattering about a mysterious man in a tan trench coat who claims to be God on a smiting binge. I turn around and see Cassie sitting on the ledge of the Grand Canyon with Dean's jacket wrapped loosely around her small shoulders as Dean calmly sips coffee at her side. Hello again, real world.

I'm not going to lie, it's a little irritating we've been on the road for a full week and we've only made it as far as the Grand Canyon. Cassie asks to stop, on average, once every two hours and Dean obliges every time. At this rate, Cassie's brother will be half way across the country by the time we reach LA.

As annoying as it is, it's also kind of nice. I don't remember the last time we took our time on anything and, truth be told, I'm not sure my crumbling mind could have handled jumping right back into the game. And I get it. Cassie's new to planet earth. The things she sees, things that are old to my brother and me, give her a great sense of excitement and joy that's somewhat contagious.

There's also the fact she seems to be good for Dean. For the most part he's still tough, closed off, whiskey drinking, bad ass Dean. But he's found an incredible soft spot for the girl. The way he looks at her is different than the way he looks at other pretty women. With them it's all lust. With Cassie, it's mostly, dare I say, love?

He's looking at her this way when I slowly approach them.

"Morning," I say sleepily between yawns.

"Mornin' sunshine," Dean gives me his usual greeting. "Get some rest?"

"More or less," I shrug.

"Good," he says. "Cause I could use a little shut eye myself. You can drive."

His phone goes off from within his jacket, which Cassie still wears. I watch with fascination as Dean shyly digs it out, reaching around her small frame to retrieve it and I can all but hear his heart rate increase.

"Hey, Bobby," he answers, putting his phone on speaker mode. "What's up?"

"Where are you boys?" Bobby wants to know, so we tell him. "You've been on the road for a week and you're in Arizona?"

"We got a little side tracked," Dean says lightly.

"Well, forget LA," Bobby says. "Adelay was spotted in a little town a few hours out of Las Vegas."

Looks like he's not making good time either.

"Jody put out a missing person's report," Bobby continues. "She said the sherif left her a message about Adelay but when she tried to call him back, all the lines were busy."

"We'll go check it out," Dean assures him. "Thanks, Bobby."

So we hit the road. It takes little more than a few hours before we discover exactly why no one had picked up at the police department.

I don't want to describe the state of this town as a war zone, but I can't think of a term more fitting. The streets are desolate and every window in every building and car has been blown out. Half of a single block has burned to the ground, leaving little but smoldering ash and broken bricks. I haven't seen anything like this since the seals were breaking, a fact that sends a shiver down my spine.

"What the hell happened here?" Dean mutters aloud, despite the fact it's not a question anyone can answer.

Anyone but Cassie, apparently.

"Fate was here," she tells us as she walks amidst the rubble, her eyes scanning the deserted town and I know she's seeing something we cannot. "And Adelay."

"They did this?" I can't help but wonder. Cassie nods solemnly when her eyes catch a set of bloody foot prints.

"The battle was close," she continues, following the trail of blood with us hot on her heels. "I don't think Adelay lost, but I don't think he won either."

"What happened to all the people?" Dean asks, hoping Cassie has an answer for this too. If she does, she won't share it. Instead she wordlessly follows what appears to be her brother's tracks.

The foot prints lead us to the northern edge of town where they simply just end. We remain silent as Cassie stares thoughtfully and longingly down the road. Between her excitement for life and her quest to save her father, she yearns to simply just be with her brother. Her mother. People she knows and loves and who love her back.

Honestly, I hope we can help her put back the pieces of her scattered family. She's a good kid. She deserves happiness and, damn it, I might as well try to give it to her.


	9. 9 - Cassandra

**Cassandra**

The Winchesters.  
My mom kind of hates them and I know Adelay holds similar feelings, even though they haven't even met them. Me? I don't know what I would have done without Sam and Dean.

Sam treats me like a brother might treat his little sister. He shares his toys - his cell phone and his computer, which I still don't really know now to use - and tells me stories and myths my mother never read when I was with her. When it comes to learning about life, he teaches me everything from history to how to hold a fork.

When it comes to the art of weaponry, self defense and rock and roll, Dean takes the lead. But our relationship is extremely different than the one I share with Sam. It's deeper, more intense. It's how my mom felt about my dad and, over the course of a month, it only continues to grow. I know Dean feels the same way, and I know it scares him.

So we don't talk about it. Instead we quietly pick up cases along the hazy road to my brother and I gradually begin to discover a few of my, what they keep calling, _powers_. Somewhere in a state known as Nevada we discover my ability to see _ghosts_, something the men use to their advantage in what they call the "most unepic ghost hunt ever". When Bobby calls and asks us to check on a _vampire_ situation in a nearby town, we find out I can detect the creatures from a mile away and I can kill them with a single touch to the forehead. This quickly becomes known as the "most boring vampire case that ever existed".

I haven't discovered much about myself beyond that, save for a few isolated incidents. I seemingly possess self healing properties, uncovered when a broken finger lasted a full three minuets. At a diner I spilled a shaker of salt without touching it and, at some hotel in a state called Utah, I managed to get the lights to flicker. I can't read their minds, but most of the time I can tell what Dean or Sam are feeling, and sometimes I can see the wild things Sam does, which are abilities I keep to myself.

Beyond demon exorcising, that's all I can do. Which is a whole lot of capabilities for a brand new half human to possess, if you ask me. It's my understanding most kids my age aren't even close to uttering their first words and I've already killed three vampires and sent a demon back to Hell.

I know I can do more. A lot more. And it'll come. Except I'm afraid. I'm afraid to know what powers I do have and I'm afraid of how I'll end up using them.

Still I practice. As much as anyone who has no idea what she's capable of can, anyway. I can tell the fear holds me back. I've been staring at this empty beer bottle in this dimly lit motel room for a good thirty minuets now and it hasn't even budged. Maybe I'm doing it wrong...

"You're going to give yourself a brain hemorrhage if you keep staring at that damn thing," Dean interrupts my concentration.

"A what?" the term is unclear to me.

"Never mind," Dean says. "Sam went out to grab some dinner. Let's work on some of those self defense moves I was showing you."

I'm not going to argue. I can't see the future, but I'm certain the day will come when these techniques will come in handy. That and I'll probably never turn down an opportunity to get close to Dean.

He demonstrates the particular moves a few times before he tells me to try it on him. So I do but it's not nearly as easy as it looks. Before I know what's happening, Dean has a strong hold on both of my hands and he pulls me into him. Our faces inches apart, his eyes lock onto mine and, for a beautiful moment in time, we loose ourselves in the other. I can see the wheels in his mind churning and I know what he's debating.

He wants to kiss me.

"Let's... let's try it again," he breaths at last, hastily breaking me from his grip as he makes his decision. I let out a small, inaudible sigh as the lights above flicker.

Despite the growing attraction, a heavy uncertainty weighs at Dean's heart. The things my dad did to him and his family left little trust to the hunter. The one person he trusts the least his himself. He always has. I pray to my grandfather he can overcome this, if not for me, for himself.


	10. 10 - Adeline

**Adeline**

I sit at the black topped bar beside a mammoth pyramid constructed entirely out of those familiar white cans with red and blue labeling. I've personally consumed somewhere near a case's worth of this cheap beer in what I'd guess has been an hour and I'm not even close to buzzed. It's not fair.

If I were capable of breath, the sorrow that continues to weigh me down would suffocate me.

"Not that I'm complaining," I hear Ash speak for the first time in a good half hour from somewhere behind me. "I mean, I like having visitors and everything. It's just... normally they're a little more, I don't know, social. Talkative. Entertaining."

"Sorry," I mumble as I kill another can of the bitter liquid. "I guess I spaced out for a minuet."

"Worried about your kids?"

That among other things. But I don't need to share that with him. He doesn't need to know about the complete and utter misery I hold or how trapped I feel up here. So I just nod.

He tells me he might be able to find news on Cassandra and Adelay so I humor him by allowing him to show me his "Angel Radio". To me it looks like a computer with wires, antennas and other electrical gadgets all duct taped to each other but I know it's more than that. I at least hope it is anyway. It might cheer me up to know my babies are okay.

Ash gives me a quick briefing on how it works but I zone out. I never cared much for technology when I was alive and I probably care for it less now. I get the gist, though; his radio picks up angel speak which Ash, being the brilliant bastard that he is, can now translate fluently.

"Things were awful quiet that first week after Cas... well, you know," he tells me as he fiddles with knobs and metallic antennas until an ear piercing screech is emitted over the speakers. "But the angels have slowly started talking again."

"What are they saying?" I really do want to know. It might be over my head and my sadness might be distractingly overwhelming, but it's still kind of fascinating.

"Well," Ash listens closely to the screeches and squeals. "They're having a hard time actually keeping track of the twins. Their energy is completely new, it's totally under the angel radar." He pauses to listen closer. "But there have been encounters to speak of. It sounds like Fate's run into Adelay a time or two but as far as anyone knows, he's still alive. Last known whereabouts... Utah."

"What about Cassandra?"

"Cassandra..." Ash mutters distantly, his attention between me and the gossip the angels share. "Cassandra is with the Winchesters."

He must see my face fall when he tells me this because he's quick to continue.

"She's in good hands, Adeline," he tries to reassure me.

"Remind me how you got up here again," I challenge and he shrugs.

"Just an Armageddon casualty," he tells me, defending the brothers I still feel are somewhat responsible for the downfall of Castiel and me. "They're good guys. They'll keep her safe."

He pauses, the radio capturing his attention again. If it weren't for the frightened look that crosses his face, I probably wouldn't urge him to share what he just heard and he would probably remain silent. But it's not a look a mother wants to see when the topic of conversation is her children's well being and I just have to know.

"What? What's going on?" I half ask, half demand of him.

"Cassandra," he gradually begins. "She gave her identity up to a demon." Pause. "Crowley doesn't know. Yet."

Crowley. Like a spark in the dead of night, an idea goes off in my darkened mind and clears a path through the muddled sorrows I keep. The pain I still bear grows worse by the day and there is nothing to distract my thoughts away from Castiel, Cassandra or Adelay. Suddenly I know of one thing that can clear my mind of all of this. Forever.

"Hey, Ash," I begin slowly, making sure I choose the right words. "Is it possible to, say, leave Heaven?"

"What, like go visit Earth?" he wants me to clarify.

"Sure," I shrug.

He looks me up and down, hesitant when it comes to supplying me with a response.

"You've been here for how long?" he tries beating around a solid answer. "A month? Have you even been to your own Heaven?"

"No," I admit. "But you're saying there's a way to get out of here?"

"What I'm saying is, maybe you should go spend some time in your own Heaven before you start thinking about jumping ship."

"But it's possible?" I dismiss his suggestion entirely. He doesn't know the discomfort my Heaven actually holds. I can barely even think of that place without breaking down.

"Where there's a will, there's a way," Ash says at last, letting loose a long, loud sigh. "I'll look into it."

I give him my deepest gratitude and a quick goodbye before I find my way back to my father's Heaven. For the first time since I saw Castiel as God, I have real hope. There might be a way out after all.


	11. 11 - Sam

**Two chapters in one day? It must be your lucky day! That or it's snowing where I am. If it's not snowing where you are, it's most certainly your lucky day. Kind of a short one. Enjoy and review!  
**

**Sam**

I awake from a short slumber to find Cassie lying perfectly still on the bed adjacent to mine. Her eyes stare dead and glossy at the ceiling above as blood oozes from a sizable gash that rips across her throat. Blood stains the yellowing motel walls in thick streaks and sickening splatters.

Normally by now, I'd be freaking out. Only, over the past month or so, I've grown so used to seeing crazy, gory shit like this I don't even blink.

What feels like forever passes before the room goes back to normal and I can see that Cassie is laying calmly on the bed next to mine, only her blue eyes don't stare dead at the ceiling but rather alive and sympathetically at me. Like she knows what I saw, what I've been seeing this whole time.

"I'm sorry my father broke your head," she tells me softly when she's sure I've returned to the real world.

"I'm fine," I brush off her needless apology as I sleepily rise to an upright position. I'm not fine. If anything, it's getting worse and the way she looks at me as she slowly sits up tells me she knows this. She eyes me for a minuet, debating whether or not she wants to challenge my lie.

"No," she shakes her head at last. "You're not."

"How exactly would you know that?" I snap. I don't mean to be short, I really don't. Between the lack of sleep, being on the road for an entire month with little to go on and my crumbling mind, I can't help it.

She doesn't respond. Instead she gives me a mysterious but compassionate smile. Must be the angel magic she's reluctant to possess.

"So, where's Dean?" I ask when she gives me no solid response.

"Getting coffee down the street," she tells me. "Bobby called with news of Adelay. He was spotted two towns over only yesterday."

Right. Adelay. We've been following his and Fate's path of destruction and find we're often just a day behind. Jody or Bobby will call Dean or me with the same story; a police officer from some small town will leave a message in response to Adelay's missing persons alert but when the call is returned only a busy signal is reached. And when we get to each town, they always look the same; half burned and completely deserted with that creepy, post Apocalyptic vibe to it.

And of course, this next one is no different.

"Cas damn it," Dean curses under his breath as we slowly scavenge the rubble for survivors or, more realistically, corpses. "We're too late."

Obviously.

Cassie begins to wander from our tiny group, her eyes sweeping the cluttered streets for signs of her brother when Dean stops her.

"Don't go too far," he orders her and she silently obeys, staying near him as they slowly walk the streets together.

You don't have to be some half angel or even a mild psychic to notice the intense interest they each hold for the other. It's like some modern day knight in a leather jacket story. Dean's rescued the fair Cassie and now serves as her protector as he attempts to shield her from the evil witch (also known as Fate). It's so cute it's nauseating.

"What do you know about Fate?" Cassie asks as her eyes continue to scan the fallen structures around us, her stance becoming somewhat ridged as she takes it all in.

"Other than the fact that she's a total bitch?" Dean just has to toss into the conversation.

"She has two sisters," I offer Cassie a real response as I study her tensing body. She can't see anything we cannot, which may be why she suddenly seems so concerned.

"Hey, Sammy," Dean says and I can only sort of pay attention, my full focus on the look that crosses Cassie's face. She doesn't see anyone, but her expression indicates she can sure feel someone.

"Remember how Fate likes to freeze time?"

Some_thing_.

"Kind of?"

We're not alone.

"What if these poor bastards are just sitting here, enjoying their lunch or whatever and all of a sudden their town is just gone?"

"I don't know. Maybe..."

I trail off rapidly when I notice Cassie is no longer standing at Dean's side. In fact, she's no where near Dean who notices her lack of presence when I stare at the empty spot beside him.

I can see the panic rise in his face.

"Cassie!" he shouts, frantically twisting around and around in search of the half angel he feels responsible for. He breaks into a full run, leaving me to chase after him as he calls into the empty streets and looks around every corner.

"Cassandra!" he yells her name over and over until he finally spots her laying unconscious and eerily still amidst a pile of freshly fallen brick. We climb the pile of ruble and I can see the lacerations and bruises that cover her face and her arms, none of which were there only moments prior.

"Please be alive," I can hear Dean mumble to himself as he checks wildly for a pulse.

"What the hell..." I can't help but mutter before I realize what happened.

Fate.


	12. 12 - Cassandra

**Cassandra**

"What if these poor bastards are just sitting here, enjoying their lunch or whatever and all of a sudden their town is just gone?"

Dean stops quite suddenly, frozen in place. Literally. Sam is too. The sudden silence is deafening.

But I'm not alone.

"Hello, Cassandra."

I'd recognize that high pitched voice anywhere.

Slowly I turn to face a petite woman with long golden hair and thick glasses, looking as upset as she does in all the memories my mother has of her. The way she stands with her arms folded across her chest tells me she's been waiting for me.

"I see Adelay still has your book," I notice as her eyes blaze with distaste.

"You know, your friends didn't help you hide very well," Fate says, dismissing my observation. "At first I couldn't figure out where you had gone to. And then your friend Sherif Jody put out a missing persons alert on your brother. Very helpful indeed."

"It couldn't have been that big of a help," I speculate. "Adelay's still alive isn't he?"

"Minor details," Fate waves her setbacks away. "He won't be for long. I've weakened him enough, he couldn't possibly withstand another battle."

I can feel the anger rise in my blood as Fate tells me of her plans to murder my brother. Like she wanted to murder my mother.

"How did you find me?" I want to know, a simple question that causes a loud, short laugh to escape from the depths of her throat.

"Please," she rolls her eyes, impatiently placing her hands upon her slim hips. "The same way I keep finding Adelay. The magic of technology. Every phone call made to or from that little sherif of yours was screened by yours truly."

Dean's right. She is a bitch. But I already knew that.

"Fine," I spit. "Let's do this then."

"What?"

I seem to have taken Fate aback some.

"You came here to kill me," I lay out the obvious as I slowly inch myself away from the frozen-in-time men. "Take your best friggin' shot."

Never mind I'm completely unprepared for this. I'm ready because I have to be. It's happening now and damn it, I've got to at least stand fast and try.

"You should know I have two older, meaner, bigger sisters that would be very upset if anything were to happen to me," she attempts to warn me, striding slowly towards me.

"Yeah?" I question as I narrow my eyes and give her a menacing smile. "My dad is God."

This does falter Fate a bit but not much.

"And where exactly is this father of yours?" she wants to break my mentality before she attempts to break my body. "He's sure let your brother do a lot of suffering lately..."

I can't listen to this. I charge her with angry fists but she won't remain stationary. Instead she removes herself from directly in front of me to ten feet to my right with the blink of an eye and an amused laugh.

"He let your mom do a lot of suffering too, didn't he?" Fate keeps jabbing me as I make another run at her. Again she doesn't stay put. This time when she reappears she stands directly behind me. When I spin around, she greets me with a hard sock across the face that sends me spiraling to the ground. I'm down and I can hear her taunting laughter come from every direction as I fight a vision that's been blurred.

"Is it me or does it seem like dad doesn't care?"

This is enough to get me on my feet. He does care, he has to. I throw an unstable arm in Fate's direction but miss once again when she disappears. I stager a bit, fumbling to catch my balance and once it's caught, Fate is standing inches from my face.

Wham!

She lays in a punch to the gut that's so powerful it knocks me back at an incredible speed, my hard impact causing an entire building to crumble to the ground. Heavy, jagged pieces of brick cut and bruise my flesh as the debris falls around me. This isn't going to be an easy one to get back up from.

When I do get up, it's because Fate's got a good hold on my left arm. With an effortless ease she tosses me a full block where I manage to level another building. Pain explodes within me as I lay on a pile of brick in a heavy daze.

"I bet your mom still feels the pain your father caused," Fate continues as a new, intense rage begins to boil hot under my skin. My heart beats furiously within my chest as I watch her slowly make a triumphant stride towards me. She's sure she's won and for a minuet I'd have to agree.

"Just imagine how she'll feel when she finds out what I've done to her children."

I can't just let her win.

A fresh surge of raw emotion over takes every inch of my being while I watch, fearful and angry, as Fate unsheathes a silver blade. I begin to shake in terror and rage when she approaches and draws her weapon back, preparing to silence my rapidly beating heart. Just as the blade begins its swift decent towards my chest, I scream.

"**NO**!"

Words are not the only things that escape. The pure emotion that pushes the bellowing cry through my lips is enough to radiate through my very skin. Everything I've felt in the past month, the joy, the anger, the sorrow, it all comes flooding out in a rush of passionate energy that sends Fate... I don't know where, but she's not here anymore.

I did it. It took every ounce of energy I had, but I did it.

"Cassandra!" I can hear Dean calling desperately through the streets.

A slow smile crosses my lips as my eyes begin to flutter closed and my body shuts itself down.

I hope he's proud of me.


	13. 13 - Dean

**Dean**

I can't find a pulse. Cas help me, I can't find a pulse. A sickness settles within me and I want to throw up.

"Cassandra," I plead with her still, motionless body. "Cassie, wake up. Come on, Cassie. Please."

I can feel the tears that threaten to spill welling hot behind my eyes as I look to Sammy. His expression is mournful and hopeless as he looks between me and the lifeless half angel. I know what he's thinking. She's dead.

"No..." I whisper, swallowing hard to prevent the tears from falling. Cas is going to kill me when he finds out.

I was supposed to protect her and I failed. She's gone, just like everyone else I've ever loved. I never even got to tell her...

"It's not your fault, Dean," Sammy tries to assure me but it is. It's always my fault. There's a reason most of the people I know are dead.

I look at her pale, limp corpse for a silent minuet before I have to look away. The sight of her laying dead on a pile of dusty brick is only going to induce the tears I desperately do not want to let escape. I'm not going to cry. I'm not...

Cas damn it all, I am going to cry.

And then something wonderful happens. A loud, heavy gasp comes from Cassie's throat as her lungs desperately fill themselves with air. I wheel around in time to see her nearly choke on the deep breaths her lungs attempt to gather as she tries to sit up. In the blink of an eye I'm at her side, beyond relieved she hasn't left us.

"Thank Cas," I breath a heavy sigh of relief when her eyes slowly flutter open and look to me. "I thought I'd lost you..."

Quite swiftly and suddenly she sits up and, before I know it, her lips are locked upon my own in an electrifying kiss. Which is, needless to say, the last thing I expected. Once the surprise has a chance to settle, I return her kiss with a passion equal to her own.

"Well, this is awkward," I can hear Sammy mutter but we ignore him for a blissful moment before Cassie slowly pulls away.

"I hope that wasn't too forward," she tells me. "I just realized it would suck to die without ever doing that."

I'm not going to hold it against her. A near death experience will do that to a person. This particular experience did a lot more than influence her to declare the things she feels for me. Her battle with Fate somehow awoke powers she never dreamed she could possess. Or, more seemingly, powers she was reluctant to possess.

In the week that follows, we learn more about Cassie than we have in the last month. What once was a handful of magic tricks has become full blown celestial type stuff. She discovers she can teleport herself short distances to familiar locations, turn lights on and off, move objects across a room, and start small fires with a single thought. She can even heal people, something we discover when I break my hand during a ghoul hunt somewhere in Wyoming.

"Check this out," she tells me at a roadside park in southern Montana.

She holds up a silver knife and, with little concentration, bends it in half.

"That'll come in handy," I note. She gives me a coy smile as she slowly inches herself closer to me.

That kiss is still the only one we've shared. As amazing as it was, it's profoundness is almost intimidating. I'm no good at relationships for several reasons. I'm not even all that great of a guy. As badly as I just want to be with her, I want more for her to be happy. Cassie deserves better than me and I dread the day when she realizes that.

"You've gotten a hell of a lot stronger," I try to avoid the subject of us, verbal or otherwise.

"Yes," she agrees. "You want to know how I did it?"

"Sure."

She stops in her advance towards me, but her eyes set themselves upon mine.

"I let go."

"I'm not sure I get it," I say.

"I let go," she repeats herself. "I was held back by fear. I was afraid of what might happen, what I might do, what I was capable of."

The way she tells me this, I know she's not just talking about her angel hoodoo.

"I learned to trust myself," she continues, her eyes never breaking away from mine. "And I let go. And you know what? It wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be."

She's talking about me being afraid of this. Of us. And I am. Why wouldn't I be? Everyone I ever love ends up dead or hurt and I would never forgive myself if anything were to happen to her.

I can't find trust for myself, not yet. But her words give me the courage to at least take her hand in mine as we walk back to the car. She's right. This isn't so scary.


	14. 14 - Cassandra

**Cassandra**

The weeks slip by and my brother's trail grows colder by the day. As soon as the details to my encounter with Fate unfolded, Dean called Jody and told her to put a halt to the missing person's report. Since then, not a single sign of Adelay or the hateful, obsessive Fate have surfaced. We can't even be sure of the direction he's traveling anymore.

So we go to Bobby's for a week to rest our tired minds. After that, we return to what Dean and Sam know as normal life as we keep our ears out for news on my lost brother. We take a zombie case in Minnesota and from there we find ourselves in northern Michigan where a werewolf has been terrorizing the locals of a small farming town.

When the savage wolf has been dealt with, Dean takes me to the sandy shores of the vast and great Lake Michigan where we silently watch a spectacular sunset. The sky is painted brightly in shades of vibrant yellows and oranges that stretch into soft hues of blue and pink, reflected perfectly across the still, clean waters before us. Dean calmly sips from his flask before he wraps a strong arm around my shoulder and we watch the sun sink behind the western horizon.

While Dean slowly allows himself to be openly affectionate towards me, a great hesitance continues to hold him back. Whether it be the intensity of what we share or the fact he can't find trust in himself, something prevents him from fully letting go. It would be a lie if I said it wasn't just a little disappointing, but I have patience. I would wait forever for him.

"Look, Cassie," Dean speaks when the stars begin to dot the darkening night skies. "I think there's something you ought to know about me."

I tear my eyes away from the peaceful scenery before me to look to him.

"I'm not exactly the guy you think I am," he continues after taking another sip from his flask.

"No?" I wonder aloud.

"I drink," he goes on. "I swear. I kill things on a regular basis. I lie and steal. I'm terrible with relationships and I'm overall not that great of a guy."

"You don't think very highly of yourself," I tell him quietly. "I know who you really are and that's a truly amazing human being."

He takes another sip of his whiskey but says nothing. He doesn't believe me.

"You know what I think?" when he remains silent. "I think you're afraid to be happy."

"Is that so?" he calmly challenges me.

"You're afraid if your happy, you'll let your guard down. And if you let your guard down, bad things happen."

For a moment, Dean thinks this over. He knows I'm right.

"I'm just making sure you know what you're getting into," he says at last. "I don't want you to get hurt. I just want you to be happy."

"You know what makes me happy?" I ask and he shakes his head. "You."

He allows a slow smile to cross his face before he can place his lips upon mine. I return his kiss as he gently lays me down upon the cool, soft sand. His fingers lightly caress my skin from my face to my neck to my arms and...

Well, it gets a little personal and in an incredibly passionate way. I'm not sure love is the right word I'm looking for, mostly because it doesn't do it justice. Then again, I'm not sure a word exists that would better describe the surreal intensity we share.

Long story short, we end up sleeping on the beach. When I wake up, I can feel Dean's finger tips lightly tracing the extensive scar I wear on my back. Gulls cry in the early morning as the lake eagerly laps the soft shores. And I've never felt more at peace.

I wish this would never end.


	15. 15 - Sam

**Sam**

The food is crawling with maggots. The burgers, the french fries, the milk shakes. It's all buzzing alive with the foul little creatures. And they're eating it.

Cassie picks up on my hallucination and slowly stops chewing, carefully placing her half eaten hamburger on the bed side table as she stares at me with a saddened expression. It doesn't really take much more than a glance for Dean to notice something's up. A thick silence settles between the three of us as my brother looks between Cassie and myself.

"So, when are we going to talk about this?" he asks at last, temporarily abandoning his own meal which is no longer crawling with maggots.

"What?" I try to pretend away the last few minuets of our life.

"Come on, Sammy," Dean rolls his eyes. "It's been two months. You don't think I haven't noticed all these little 'out of it' moments you've been having?"

"Dean, I..." I begin, but Dean won't let me finish.

"Don't tell me nothing's wrong," he interrupts sternly. "I know something's going on. Just tell me."

Cassie gives me an encouraging nod as I let out a long, deep sigh.

"Alright, fine," I tell my brother. "You're right. I'm not okay. I didn't want to say anything after Cas... well, you know."

"Yeah, alright," Dean rolls his eyes. "What's up?"

"I've been seeing... things," I begin slowly with an air of hesitation.

"Things like what?" Dean presses me. "Visions, ghosts...?"

"Insects," Cassie fields the question for me. "Fire. Death."

She thinks she's helping me, but she's probably making it worse. Dean frowns as he glances between the two of us.

"Hallucinations?" he wants to know, anger rising in his voice. "You've been having hallucinations? And you didn't tell me?" He pauses to turn to Cassie. "And you knew?"

"I'm sorry, Dean," I try to calm him with a half sincere apology, but I know it won't work. "I didn't think it was a big deal..."

"Not a big deal?" Dean fumes. "Your head's broken and it's 'not a big deal'?"

I don't respond. Sure the things I see are unpleasant and have put me in a state of living Hell. But I'm not actually in Hell. I'm alive and on Earth. In relativity to the big picture, my problems are quite small and truly not a big deal.

"You know what," Dean speaks as he angrily rises to his feet. "I don't know what's worse. The fact that you seem to think seeing crazy crap is completely okay or the fact that both of you knew about this and didn't bother to tell me about it. No wonder I can't trust anybody."

"You want to know why I didn't tell you?" I ask, looking up at him. "Because, for some reason, you find a way to take the blame for everything. This isn't your fault, and I didn't think you'd understand that."

"Because it is my fault, Sammy," Dean says.

Cassie stands to face Dean, gently cupping the side of his head with a tender hand.

"It's not your fault," she tells him firmly, her eyes locked onto his. He doesn't say anything. He doesn't believe her, but staring into her eyes slowly calms his hot temper. When she's sure he is placid, she turns her attention back to me.

I blink and suddenly, she doesn't look like Cassie. Vast, hollow holes sit where her eyes should be and her nose has rotted off. The flesh on her face, what's left of it, wilts and falls off in thick, rotten pieces. Whatever hair that remains at the top of her head is shriveled and dry.

For a minuet we remain silent as I stare at her death like form. While I can't see her eyes I can tell she stares back, seeing exactly what I see.

"Sam, can you hear me?" her mutilated lips garble and I slowly nod. "Good. If you'd let me, I'd like to try something on you. May I touch you?"

I look at her bony fingers and flinch but allow myself to give her a reluctant nod. I try not to cringe as she lifts her decaying hands and places them gently upon my warm face. It only takes a few seconds for her face, her skin, everything to return to normal. Now I stare at her wide eyed in awe, not in hesitance and fear.

"What... did you...?" I fumble over my words as a heavy fatigue settles over me.

"Not quite what I was hoping to accomplish," she tells me with a sigh. "But, if I'm correct, it should keep your head together for a few days." She pauses, her face falling slightly. "Your soul... it's more broken than I realized. I'm not sure I can fix it."

"That's alright," I assure her, offering her a small, exhausted smile. "I wouldn't expect you to. Thank you anyway."

It's the last thing I can say before my body collapses into a heap on the bed and I fall into a blissful and undisturbed slumber.


	16. 16 - Dean

**Dean**

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

Cassie helps me move the passed out Sammy in a more comfortable position on the motel bed.

"I didn't think it was my secret to tell."

I let out a small sigh. She's right. It's Sammy's deal. She had no business sharing it and she didn't.

"It's fine," I tell her. "How long do you think he'll be out?"

"I'm not sure," she admits. "I wouldn't be surprised if he sleeps all night. He's pretty tired."

Right.

"Let's go shoot some pool or something," I suggest, hoping to distract my mind from this abrupt and disturbing news.

I can't believe he didn't tell me. His own brother. I'm so focused on this I'm barely watching Cassie when we walk into the first bar we see. I absently saddle an empty bar stool and order myself a Scotch. If I had been paying attention to her, I would have noticed the immediate discomfort she feels being here.

"What's up?" I ask when I finally notice her giving each stranger in the place an uneasy glance.

"You didn't happen to bring your special knife with you, did you?" she questions me in a low voice and I assume she's referring to my demon blade.

"Never leave home without it," is how my response comes out. "Why? You see one?"

"Sort of," she replies. "More like several."

"What?!" I all but cry as I attempt to conspicuously look over the bar crowd. "Where?"

"Everywhere," is the answer I really didn't want to hear, but it's what she tells me anyway. There have to be a good thirty or so people in here.

I down my drink in a single gulp and rise to my feet.

"Let's find another bar," I quietly suggest.

Of course we don't get too far. We're not even half way to the door when a tall, muscular man with dark hair and green eyes blocks our route, standing firmly before us with his thick arms crossed tightly over his wide chest. A menacing smile crosses his lips as he looks to Cassie, clearly giving little care to me.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asks her.

Cassie looks uncertain. Part of her wants to reach out and exorcise him on the spot. But she's not sure who here knows what she is and she doesn't want to risk exposing this secret if it's unnecessary.

"Um, out," she replies at last as she quickly grabs a hold of my hand. This man, or rather demon, lets out an uproarious, amused laugh.

"Sorry, sweetheart," he shakes his head. "You're not going anywhere."

Every eye in the house turns black.

Well, shit.

Thirty some demons and one knife.

_You know, Cas_, I catch myself praying to my old friend who's probably too busy killing "evil men" to listen. _If you care at all for your daughter, you might want to come give us a hand_.

I don't really hold my breath for a response. He's probably in the middle of giving some white supremacists bowel cancer or inducing brain hemorrhages upon corrupt politicians. While these daily sightings and stories are somewhat amusing, it's starting to get old. He's got time to kill some hypocritical priest but he can't show up to give Cassie a friggin hand for two minuets?

"What do you want with us?" I growl at the obvious ring leader in this surprise attack.

"We're not after you, Dean," the demon tells me, sending me a sharp glare as he speaks. "You're yesterday's news." He pauses to let a sinister grin form across his lips. "Although I'm sure Crowley wouldn't be disappointed if you were to wind up dead."

"Crowley?" I echo the demon king's name. "He's behind this?"

And I wasn't worried.

I'm definitely not surprised.

"Don't fret," the demon speaks, ignoring my question completely as his black eyes fall to the half angel before him. "She won't be harmed."

Cassie breaks her grasp on my hand and lashes out to grab the demon's arm, but he's too fast, even for her. With gloved hands, the demon in the big meat suit swiftly manages to trap both of Cassie's hands behind her back with such force I can hear one of her wrists snap.

Instinct picks up and I unsheathe my heavy blade, charging the demon that holds my beloved Cassie captive. Which is, of course, when every other demon in the joint rushes me.

"Let her go!"

That's all it takes to get the attention away from us. Every eye in the bar, including my own, looks to a stranger whose face is hidden by the hood of his dirty gray sweat shirt as he makes his way through the crowd.

"Adelay..." I can hear Cassie whisper as the demon who holds onto her lets out a loud, short laugh.

"I said, let her go!" the hooded man repeats, this time louder and more authoritative.

"Listen, boy," the demon spits. "Do you know what I am?"

"No," the man fearlessly admits. "Do you know what I am?"

The demon furrows his brow but doesn't really think about it. Instead he motions for two of his cohorts to take care of this random stranger, but he's ready for them. With little effort, the stranger extends both hands and emits an energy so pure and intense it exorcises the five closest demons in his proximity.

"Crap..." I can hear the dark haired demon mutter. His companions can't decide who to rush, me or Adelay. So they come at both of us, charging forward with a fearful hate in their cold black eyes. Adelay has little to no trouble with the demons that surround him, sending the evil sons of bitches back to Hell in five's as he calmly makes his way towards his captured sister. While I'm more than well versed in the art of demon slaying, I find the task of fending them off by the dozens with a single blade and no superpowers a bit more tricky.

In the end, I manage to kill a whopping six to the twenty five or so Adelay exorcises.

"Send Crowley our regards," I spit before Cassie's brother can send her captor and the last standing demon back to the pit.

With the demons gone, a heavy silence fills the body strewn tavern. Cassie stares intensely at Adelay as he slowly removes his hood, revealing his blue eyes and shaggy blonde hair. He looks just like her, minus the whole gender difference.

"Hello, sister," he speaks at last and the way Cassie looks at him I'm not sure if she's going to hug him or punch him.

"Adelay," she returns his greeting. "Thank you."

"Of course," he returns. "What were those things, anyway?"

"Demons," his slightly older sister informs him, an answer that he easily accepts.

"I figured they might be once someone mentioned Crowley," he shares before he eyes me. "Who's your companion?"

"Dean Winchester," Cassie somewhat introduces us. The name is familiar to her twin brother who continues to study me with a great interest.

"Castiel's friend," Adelay states.

"Once upon a time, yeah," I shrug. "Before the whole Purgatory thing, anyway."

He eyes me wearily for a minuet, determining how much he can trust the guy he thinks helped his dad abandon his family.

"We've been looking for you," Cassie tells Adelay who turns his attention to his sister.

"Oh?" he seems surprised by this. "That wasn't you who socked me in the face on the way down? I thought you never wanted to see me again."

"That's not what I said," Cassie rolls her eyes. "I said I didn't want to see you until you've changed your mind about dad."

"Right," Adelay nods. "So, never."

"Ash warned us," Cassie reminds him.

"I haven't changed my mind," Adelay tells his sister. "I will kill him."

"Adelay, please," she all but begs him. "Just think about it for five friggin minuets."

"I have thought about it, Cassandra," he snaps back. "I've thought about it for almost a year now. Dad left mom. He left us. You do remember what that did to mom, don't you? You think she's really at peace up there in Heaven?"

I can tell his sharp words cut at her like no knife ever could, mostly because they're true, but also because of the anger that drives them into her.

So much for a happy reunion.

"I don't think you're wrong," she quietly continues. "But killing him isn't going to make it any better. Ash said..."

"Forget what Ash said!" he shouts. "And you can't stop me!"

"I can stop you," Cassie maintains a calm and collective tone as her fingers ball into hard tiny fists. "And I will."

"Give it your best shot," Adelay challenges.

So she does. She knocks him flat on his back a good fifteen feet from where he once stood with a single uppercut. He struggles momentarily to rise to his feet but when he does, Cassie is there with another blow. She sinks a heavy fist into his face so hard I can hear his jaw break. He wheels back and catches his balance before Cassie can lay in another swift blow to his face. Blood spills from his nose as he looks through narrowed eyes at his sister.

"Alright, I get it," he tells her, his jaw snapping itself back into its appropriate place as he speaks. "You're against it. But you're not going to stop me, because you'll have to find me first."

And like that, he's gone. Like Cas used to do. Cassie runs to the spot where he had just been standing but stops short.

"I can't follow him," she explains with an aggravated breath. "I'm not familiar with the place he went."

"He can't be far," I speculate. "I'm sure we can find him..."

I don't know what Cassie's looking at now but it's taken her mind away from her brother almost entirely. Slowly she inches towards a table near the back where she reaches behind a chair and pulls out a heavy, leather bound black book.

Fate's book.

I'm not going to lie, I'm not sure if this is a good or a bad thing.


	17. 17 - Castiel

**Castiel**

This is a little embarrassing to admit, and I tell you this with the utmost confidence it won't be repeated. I can't see my children. Their energy is completely undetectable to me, a problem I've heard all the angels and demons have been experiencing as well. Even Crowley had to organize a sizable team just to find the Winchesters and an even bigger one to trail and trap them.

Yes, I am aware of Adelay. From the moment the angels began talking once more, they spoke a lot of him and Cassandra. I'm also aware that my daughter has become involved with Dean, a fact I can't say I hold much excitement for. I don't mean to sound ungrateful for the help my friend has provided Cassandra, because I truly appreciate this. I simply don't care for their relationship to be so intimate.

And yes, I know about Crowley and his little attempt to kidnap my daughter. He will be dealt with. Right now, I have something to take care of.

I stand upon the small, rocky shore at the tiny inland lake. A lone fisherman relaxes in his small boat beneath a sunny sky. I turn my head to look through the lush forests and easily spot her sitting beneath a thick oak tree with a beer clutched in her fist.

She still hasn't been to her own Heaven and, for a split second, I feel that falter in my confidence. But I shake it off.

"Adeline," I stand before her.

She barely looks up at me as she takes a long drink from her can.

"Why didn't you tell me about Adelay?" I want to know. She lets out a short, sarcastic laugh.

"It's been, what, two and a half months?" she rolls her eyes at me. "Please don't tell me you're just now finding out about him."

"No," I inform her. "I'd just like to know why you never told me."

"I didn't even know until he came out," she tells me. "I didn't think you cared, seeing how you'd already abandoned one child."

This again. I don't have time for this.

"Crowley sent a troop of demons to capture Cassandra," I inform her. "Adelay was there."

I watch the horror lace across her face as she slowly rises to her feet.

"Are they... are they okay?" she gasps.

"They're fine," I report and, in an instant, her terror filled face is transformed into anger.

"And where were you when this happened?" she wants to know.

"I was taking care of a drug lord in Mexico," I tell her.

"Oh, nice," she rolls her eyes again as she tries to walk away from me. "Good to know you're keeping an eye on things for me."

"Adeline, please," I call after her, but I know she's right. I may have gotten a little preoccupied with my work. I should be careful of that.

"I'll take care of Crowley," I promise her as we walk rapidly through the forest of her father's Heaven.

"That's not really what I'm worried about," she says.

"What is it then?"

"The fact that you're so caught up in this whole 'look at me, I'm God' crap you forgot about your kids," she snaps, stopping dead in her tracks to look me in the eye. "Is this what you call 'fixing things'? Sending a bunch of sinners to Hell? You honestly and sincerely believe cleaning the Earth of evil men will make anything better?"

Right, this again. I let out a long sigh. I wish I could make her understand.

I raise a tender hand to her face but she still won't allow me to touch her.

"Adeline, please..."

"Crap, I came at a bad time," Ash makes a clumsy entrance, clutching pages of computer paper in his trembling hands.

"Castiel was just leaving," Adeline insists.

So I do.

No longer in Heaven I stand inside a cramped studio apartment in the slums of Chicago. Crowley sits on a tattered and soiled old blue sofa with a glass of Scotch in one hand and a bottle in the other. He looks surprised to see me, but not that surprised.

"I was wondering when you were going to stop by for a little chat," he admits, not bothering to rise from his seat. "Care for a drink?"

I shatter the glass in his hand with barely a thought to which he lets out a loud sigh.

"That was rude," he comments so I break his bottle.

"Are you stupid or suicidal?" I speak at last.

"Possibly a bit of both," Crowley replies. "So I sent a few demons to check out your kid, what of it?"

"You sent thirty-three of your best men," I tell him. "After my daughter."

"A few, thirty three, same thing," Crowley rolls his eyes. "She did more than alright when the unknown son showed up and saved the day." Pause. "I'm surprised you even heard about it. I figured you were too busy blowing up meth labs in California to pay attention to your children's whereabouts."

"You think you can get away with abducting my daughter?" I speak with a stern, unwavering tone, ignoring his last comment.

"Yeah," Crowley shrugs. "I kind of do."

"Leave my children alone," I warn him. He rolls his eyes at me.

"Or what?" he pretends my threat is empty. He knows better, but he's going to challenge me anyway. "You'll smite me? You need me, Castiel. I'm the king of Hell. Without me, the earth would be crawling with demons. Everything would be completely disorganized and you'd have a war on your hands."

"I am God," I remind the king. "Wiping out Hell would not be a difficult task."

He doesn't say anything.

"Because you are the king of Hell," I go on. "And I know you will try again, I'll give you something in return."

"Half the Purgatory souls?" Crowley mumbles.

"You leave Adelay and Cassandra alone," I say, dismissing his bitter comment. "And you can have Dean Winchester's soul."

Nothing is said, not right away. Crowley stares at me, trying to determine the sincerity of my offer. Sure, Dean was once my best friend. But he tried to stop me, he's dating my daughter and, really, it's about the only thing in the world Crowley wants. The only thing I'm willing to give him, anyway.

"You're bluffing," he wants to call me out, pulling a fresh bottle of Scotch and a clean, unbroken glass from the table by the couch. "You can't give me his soul, it's not yours to give."

"It is if I'm God," I assure him. "I control the traffic. When Dean dies, he is yours."

Crowley looks at me with a great suspicion as he pours himself a drink.

"You'll have to excuse my hesitance when it comes to making deals with you," he says at last.

"Fine," I say, turning to leave. "See how kidnapping my children work for you."

"Wait," he begrudgingly calls out before I can take my leave. "I'll take your bloody offer."

I smile before I turn to face him once again. And Adeline doesn't think I can't take care of the kids.

"Good choice," I speak. "Starting now, you and your minions will leave my children alone. Dean Winchester is yours when his body expires."

"Yes, about that," Crowley says. "When exactly do you expect that to take place?"

I shrug.

"It could be two days from now," I tell him mysteriously with a small, triumphant smile. "It could be sixty years from now. Only time will tell."


	18. 18 - Cassandra

**Cassandra**

For weeks the names haunt me. I know I should stop but I can't help reading from the yellowing pages of Fate's book. Every name of every person who ever existed is listed in fine black ink and I can't put it down.

"You need to stop reading that," Dean comments after a few weeks of my obsessive habit. "It's bringing you down."

I've been laying with my head comfortably resting upon his chest for a good hour under the sagging roof of the abandoned house we're currently squatting in. And my eyes haven't left these damn pages the whole time.

"Abner Williams, died age 108," I read aloud, the Enochian letters and numbers illuminated by the dim blue light of a nearby electric lamp. "Charlotte Cherrywood, died age six."

"Take it from me," Dean tells me. "There's no use in asking why. It'll drive you crazy."

"You never know," Sam tries to add comfort to the matter as he stokes a small fire in the dirty fireplace. "Maybe she would have been worse than Hitler."

"Don't worry about it," Dean says. "Just give me the book."

When I make no attempt to peel my eyes from the ancient words, Dean pulls me into him for a long kiss which serves as a distraction so he can snatch the damn thing from my hands.

"Fine, take it," I playfully roll my eyes as Dean holds the book beyond my reach with a triumphant, self satisfactory grin on his face.

"What are we supposed to do with that, anyway?" Sam asks. Dean stares at it, hoping it will inspire an idea.

"We burn it," he says at last without question, slowly rising to his feet as he speaks.

"Burn it?" Sam echoes. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Dean nods. "Why not? It's not doing us much good."

And then I feel it. A sudden surge of energy only I can detect. She's coming.

"Dean, I don't know..." I begin as I cautiously rise to my feet.

Dean wanders to the fireplace where he means to feed it to the small flames that hunger for its fuel. He barely has it above the fire when Fate shows up, knocking the book from Dean's hand with a wave of unseen energy, sending it sailing across the floor to the center of the room. He wheels around as Sam scrambles to his feet, both searching for the illusive bitch.

"I'll take that," she shows herself, striding swiftly towards the book. She's fast, but I'm faster and I manage to reach the heavy object before she can. I don't know what I'm going to do with it, but I have it.

"You have become quite a thorn in my side," Fate makes a bitter comment as her thin fingers find their way into a tight grip around my neck. With a forceful thrust she slams me against a wall which cracks upon impact. The book I loose grip of and it sails into the center of the room once more. This time Fate doesn't go after it. She's too focused on the death grip she holds on me.

Dean and Sam rush her but it's no use. With a wave of her free hand, Fate sends them sailing across the abandoned house, stopping only when their bodies collide with another wall. They crumple with a sickening crunch onto the floor and I can hear the agonizing groans that faintly escape their throats.

With a frantic urgency I gather all the energy I can. I release enough of it to cause Fate to wheel back some, but not much. She's on me again before I can even blink, throwing a solid fist into my gut so hard it knocks me against the wall again. Scrambling to my feet, I manage to avoid a left jab before I can get a good solid kick into her small head and she's on the ground.

Without hesitance I'm sitting on top of Fate, striking her face with my hard, angry fists for a good chunk of time before she's able to send me flying back with a short, sharp shot of powerful energy. I fall to the floor so hard and so fast the breath is taken from my lungs. I choke for a moment, giving Fate enough time to take a firm grasp of my long, blonde hair with her skinny fingers. With a powerful arm she forces me to my knees, holding my head back enough to get a good exposure of my throat.

"I'd ask if you have any final words," Fate says as she brings that silver blade of hers to my throat. "But I've been waiting too long for this, I don't think I can wait."

My heart beats rapidly within my chest as I feel the cool, honed edge of the blade begin to sink into my flesh. This can't be how it ends. It just can't.

I can't believe dad is allowing this to happen.

"That will be quite enough from you, Fate."

He appears from nowhere and quite suddenly. A bony old man dressed in a suit and tie and a stern look aimed directly at Fate. She knows him. We all do, in fact.

Death.

"No..." Fate whispers, frozen with fear.

"I'm sorry, Fate," Death says quietly. "But your time has come."

"No," Fate shakes her head, speaking faintly. "It can't be."

"Your services are no longer required," Death tells her.

He doesn't wait for his words to hit her. He doesn't even lift a finger and she's on fire, burning rapidly from the inside out. I scramble away from the shrieking, dying creature, racing for the safety of Dean's protective arms to watch Fate's demise. When she is no more than a pile of ash on the hardwood floor our eyes look to Death with a mixture of gratitude and wonder.

"Thanks," Dean speaks after a moment of uncertain silence passes. "That was awesome timing."

"Believe it or not, Dean," Death speaks. "I didn't come to save you. Fate's number was up. I was simply doing my job."

He focuses his eyes upon me, giving me a brief and friendly nod of recognition.

"Do not give up, Cassandra," he tells me. "You cannot let Adelay slay your father."

Why not? He hasn't done much for me lately.

"If Adelay is to succeed in killing your father," Death goes on, knowing precisely what I'm thinking. "It would be the end of the world as you know it. Every soul now trapped within your father would spew forth and consume everything in its path."

Well, alright. Since it's for humanity...

"Can Adelay even kill Castiel?" Sam is curious to know, a question that's cycled his head several times in the months past.

"There are only three things in this world that can destroy Castiel," Death informs us. "God, Adelay and me."

"Why not Cassie?" Sam continues, the answer to his long lived ponderings generating more questions. "She's easily stronger than Adelay. She kicked his ass a few weeks ago."

"Because," he begins, his eyes stationed on me as he speaks. "Cassandra is not driven by vengeance or hate. Adelay despises Castiel to the extent where he is now capable of destroying him."

"You wouldn't happen to know where Adelay is, would you?" Dean hopes like hell Death has an answer for him.

"Like I said, Dean," Death speaks with a light note of irritation to his tone. "I'm not here to help. I've accomplished what I came for and I will take my leave."

He eyes us all for a minuet and I know it doesn't give him pleasure to leave us with these three short, ominous words;

"See you soon."


	19. 19 - Dean

**Dean**

_See you soon_.

These words vex me for months as I travel the country with Sammy and Cassie on a road that's long since gone cold. We try to preoccupy ourselves with regular cases in the meantime; a poltergeist in Indiana, a wraith in Virginia, a shape shifter in Florida. To name a few. Six months worth of normal old cases and I still can't get his parting words off my friggin' mind.

It's really, really bugging me.

You'd think knowing Fate was forever off your back would be more relieving than this.

Something else that's starting to bother me is Sammy's head. That and the fact he's still not talking about it. Once she figured out she was able to do it, Cassie would work her angel hoodoo on Sammy's head and he'd be fixed for a few days. But a few days became every couple of days which turned into once a day. Now I catch her doing it at least twice on a daily basis.

The visions, hallucinations, whatever they are, they're getting worse. While he hasn't told me about it, I can tell by the look he'll get on his face they've intensified in sight and length. When this all first started he would stare at something with a confused or horrified look for a brief minuet. Now he'll maintain that exact look in thirty minuet intervals.

If there's one tiny ray of light in this mess that is my life, it's Cassie. I don't know how she does it, but with her around I'm less edgy. I've even accidentally stopped drinking as much as I used to. I mean, everything's still pretty much shit. Between Sammy's broken head and the fact the world's probably going to end soon, the road we've come to grows harder by the day. She's the only thing that inspires hope and makes this road a little less difficult to take.

Even when she presents me with some of the worst news yet.

"Can I talk to you?" she approaches me with a soft but concerned voice. "It's about Sam."

I can't help but furrow my brow a bit as I look to Sammy who sits all of six feet from us on the floral patterned motel bed spread, his eyes transfixed in terror at nothing.

"He can't hear us," she assures me, which is in no way, shape or form comforting news.

"Uh, yeah," I nod. "What's going on with him?"

"First of all," she tells me as if she's rehearsed this speech for weeks. "You should know it's not Sammy's head that's broken, it's his soul."

"Whatever it is, what's going on? Why isn't your angel glue working anymore?"

Cassie lets out a small, sad sigh.

"He's been growing immune to my healing techniques," she tells me. "It's requiring more energy in shorter spans of time to keep his soul together. Every time it falls apart, it falls harder and faster."

My heart skips a beat or three.

"What does that mean?" I'm uncertain where this is going, but I know it's not good. Cassie stares silently at me for a good minuet, her blue eyes shining sadly upon me as she searches for the best way to break it to me.

"It means," she lets out a tense, nervous breath as she begins. "It means that some day I won't be able to heal him anymore."

My face falls, my heart stops and my stomach sinks. A thick silence falls upon us as I allow this terrible realization to sink in.

"How... how much time...?" I choke out as my chest becomes weighted and tight.

"Maybe a month," she tells me quietly. She pauses to chew over a set of words she's uncertain she even wants to share. "Unless..."

"Unless?" I echo with a spark of hope in my tone. "Can you fix this?"

"Yes," she slowly nods. "I've found a way to fix him. Permanently."

"What are you waiting for?" I want to know, finding a mild anger in this overdue news. "Fix him!"

"Dean," she tries to coax the rise in my voice back down with her quiet tone. "It's... I can't..." She pauses to collect her thoughts. "The energy it would require to completely put him back together would leave me with, well, nothing."

My expression softens at this into something less angry and more understanding with a splash of disappointment. A fixed, all better Sammy means a mortal Cassie and without her abilities, our chances of taking down Adelay are a hell of a lot slimmer than they already are. Then again, her retaining her powers would mean Sammy goes completely guano and I don't know if I can let that happen. But I can't ask Cassie to give up her gifts.

Rock. Me. Hard place.

"Just go help Sammy for now," I instruct her, my tone low and heavy. "I think he's starting to drool on himself. We'll... we'll talk about this later."

As Cassie obeys my soft request I pour myself a shot of whiskey from the half empty bottle on the dresser. Just what I need, one more thing to worry about. Better make this a double.


	20. 20 - Adeline

**Adeline**

The calm lake that stretches out before me brightly reflects the perfectly round moon that hangs proudly above the snow capped mountains. Stars dance happily in the night sky as a cool but pleasant breeze kisses my face. Boldly I walk the rickety old dock that rests peacefully in the still waters and, when I come to the end, I rest my burdened body on the wooden planks.

My Heaven. For the first time in nine months or so I have found the courage to come here. I was worried coming here would make the pain that continues to cling relentlessly to my tormented soul that much worse. I was right.

This place brings vivid and intimate memories of Castiel and it's almost too much to bear. The last time I even saw him, he dropped in to boast that he had taken care of Crowley before he was off again to attend to more smiting. That was over six months ago.

Ash has kept me informed on Castiel's whereabouts and activity on Earth. He updates me on Adelay and Cassandra. And he found a way out of Heaven.

From my sweater pocket I draw out a crumpled piece of paper and slowly unfold it. Ever since Ash gave it to me a good six months ago, I've looked at it thousands of times. I've been waiting for the courage to use this escape and coming to my Heaven has given it to me.

Without hesitation I pull a piece of white chalk out from my pocket and sketch the symbols I've all but memorized onto the aging wood beneath me. It doesn't take more than a minuet or two to complete the sketch and once it's finished, I jump into it with one person's name set dead in my mind.

The dock gives way, opening up to a vast and empty nothing that swallows me whole. A fleeting second later I'm standing in an upscale pent house in what I recognize as Las Vegas. And I'm not alone.

A dark haired man stands beside a mini bar with a drink in his hand and a curious but confused look upon his face.

"The bloody hell?" he mutters in an English accent. "Who the hell are you?"

"Are you Crowley?" I ask him fearlessly.

"Maybe," is his vague response. "That depends on who's asking."

"My name is Adeline," I tell him. "I am the mother of Castiel's children."

This sparks a sudden and keen interest in the man's dark eyes as he slowly approaches me.

"So you're Castiel's girlfriend," he speaks, eyeing me as he strides towards me. "You know, he's never said a word about you. None what so ever."

I roll my eyes.

"Yes, I am Crowley," he tells me at last. "And to what do I owe this unexpected visit? If it's about your kids, they're fine."

"Good," I say. "But that's not why I'm here."

"Well it must be somewhat important," he speculates before taking a sip of what appears to be whiskey, his eyes not leaving me once. "You came a long way to talk to me."

"It's about my soul," I tell him and if I didn't have his full attention before, I certainly do now. "I'd like you to take it."

The reaction this causes is a mixture of complete shock, amusement and question.

"You want to give me your soul?" he wants me to confirm which I do with a small and confident nod. "What's the catch? What do you want in return?"

"Absolutely nothing," I say.

"You just want me to up and take you to Hell?" he either can't tell if I'm being sincere or if I have a trick up my sleeve.

"Yes."

"Why?" he doesn't understand. "You've been accepted into Heaven. Why would you possibly want to leave that for an eternity?"

"I have my reasons," I remain illusive on the subject. "Please, just take it."

"Can't say no to a free soul," he admits. "It's a deal. But I'm not going to take you today."

My face falls at the news, something Crowley seems somewhat entertained by.

"When?" I want to know.

"Two, maybe three weeks," he estimates between sips from his glass. "I'll call you when I'm ready for you."

"How?" I ask.

"I have my ways," he tells me mysteriously. "Just don't go too far. Not that you could."

I give him a sideways glance at his last statement, not completely sure what he means.

"You're mine now, sweet Adeline," Crowley gives me a sly grin. "You think you can get back into Heaven now?"

Good point.

At least I have a chance to see the world one more time.


	21. 21 - Dean

**Dean**

The weeks that follow Cassie's warning draw by at a painfully slow rate. We take on a vampire case somewhere in Vermont and hunt down an angry ghost in Georgia but these things don't distract me a damn bit. All I can think about is how rapidly Sammy's mental state has been deteriorating. That and Death's stupid words.

It used to be I'd beg and plead, do and say anything to prevent ill fate from falling onto Sam. And I still would, but I've found a limit and her name is Cassie. I can't ask her to relinquish her powers for him. Beyond Sammy and me, it's all she has. As much as I hope like hell she'll do it, I can't find it within me to persuade her. She'll need her strength when we finally catch up to Adelay.

While our trail on Cassandra's brother has long since gone dead, Bobby manages to find another serious case of interest. We're all crashing at his house when the news comes to his attention and when he shares it with me, I'm not sure what to make of it.

"Serious demon omens," he tells me, pouring us each a tall glass of Scotch from the bottle on his book scattered desk. "Electrical storms, power outages, even black smoke."

"Where?" I ask.

"A little city in western Colorado," Bobby informs me, extending a glass in my direction which is happily accepted.

"That's a little..." I begin as I bring my glass to my lips.

"Weird?" Bobby finishes.

To say the least.

"When'd all this start happening?" I want details.

"Just within the last couple of days," he replies. "Jody just called me about it."

"Jody?" I echo. "Since when has she been involved with all this?"

"Since Cassie showed up," he shares. "Shoot, she's the one who stumbled on a good half of the cases you three have taken in the last six or seven months."

"Really?" I ask with a blend of amusement and surprise in my voice. Bobby nods as he takes a long sip from his glass.

"Yep," he says. "She's actually on her way here right now."

"Bobby, you dog," I playfully jest, something that causes a fleeting look of embarrassment to cross his otherwise hardened face.

It doesn't take Jody more than twenty minuets to show up and when she walks in the door she brings with her a small stack of papers. Articles and police reports on the strange instances in the mountain town in question. I'm not going to lie, it's kind of nice to have a cop on my side for once.

The three of us sit in the living room for a good hour, going over the details of this demon gathering and devising a plan on how to intervene.

"I'm coming with you boys on this one," Bobby states. "Whatever's going on, it's huge."

"I'm coming too," Jody pipes up.

"No," Bobby sternly shakes his head. "There's no way you're coming."

"Why not?" Jody wants to know. "Is it because I'm a woman?"

"Yes, er, no, I mean..." Bobby fumbles over his own words.

"What Bobby means," I quickly jump in. "Is that you're not experienced."

"Please," Jody rolls her eyes. "I'm a cop and a full grown adult who's more than capable of making decisions for herself."

Bobby sighs. There's no way around this one. Even if we manage to sneak out of town without her, it won't be a problem for her to track us down. She already knows where we're going.

Cassie joins us as Bobby announces he's going to load up his van.

"Good, you're up," I comment as she slowly shuffles into the cluttered living room. "Go get Sammy, would you? We've got a demon problem..."

My words trail when I see the sorrow that fills her blue eyes and my heart sinks.

"What's wrong?" I have to ask.

"It's Sam," she speaks barely above a whisper. "I can't... I can't fix him anymore..."

Bobby and Jody both pause in their gatherings to stare at the news I've been expecting.

"What's going on?" Bobby wants to know. We never told him about Sammy's crumbling soul, mostly because even we never really talked about it ourselves. Like we were hoping it would fix itself before it came to this.

"Sam's soul," Cassie begins after a moment of silence. "When my father broke the wall between Sam and his memories of Hell, it caused his soul to shatter." She pauses, her sad eyes sweeping back to me. "It used to be in pieces and those pieces are rapidly turning to dust. There's still time to repair him permanently, but it's, as you say, now or never."

I don't give her an answer. I don't know what to tell her. Of course I want Sammy to be all better, I want it more than anything right now. But draining Cassie of all her abilities, especially now...

Talk about bad timing.

Cassie studies me and I know she can tell just how I feel. It takes her only a minuet before she makes a decision. Slowly she excuses herself from the living room and I can't help but follow her up the stairs and into the guest room where Sammy sits on the side of the bed silently staring with a frozen look of pure terror at nothing.

She doesn't go to Sam, not right away. Instead she looks at me with those big, bright blue eyes of hers for a good minuet before she places a long affectionate kiss upon my lips. My heart pounds with an anxious fury when she turns away and I watch her walk to the bed where she stops before my brother. She stares into his trancelike, glazed over eyes before she lets out a long, heavy sigh.

"Hey, Dean," she speaks to me, her eyes never breaking away from Sam's. "If this kills me, tell my dad he's a jerk."

"Wait, this could kill you?!"

She just gives me a small smile.

"I love you, Dean."

The words have barely left her lips when she places her hands around Sammy's head and closes her eyes. Before I can cross the room to stop her, a wave of hot energy bursts from within her. I stop dead in my tracks and watch as the room illuminates with this bright blue glow that comes pouring out of Cassie's very being and into Sammy. His eyes begin to clear, showing signs of cognitive thought and awareness as Cassie's own eyes begin to roll back into her head.

With a deep breath Sammy gasps just as Cassie crumples to the hard wood floor.

"What... what happened?" he mumbles, blinking furiously around the room while I rush to Cassie's side. When he notices her condition, he's on the floor next to her and we're both checking franticly for a pulse.

_ Please, please,_ I find myself praying to no one in particular. _Let her be alive._


	22. 22 - Sam

**Sam**

Cassie sleeps peacefully on the bench seat in the back of Bobby's van, her head resting comfortably in Dean's lap as he lovingly strokes her blonde hair. The energy it took to fix my head was so great that, for a minuet, we thought it killed her. Luckily it only knocked her out and she's been sleeping soundly for the past ten hours.

I will be forever grateful for what she did for me, I truly will. Still, I can't help but think that maybe she should have just let me fall apart. I'm one soul and now, without her powers, we have even less of a chance of saving the billions of souls that remain threatened by Adelay's relentless quest to kill Castiel. I just hope I'm worth it.

Our ride to Colorado is filled mostly by a thick and haunting silence. When we're not dwelling upon the nasty demon problem, Bobby and Jody are asking me questions about my once broken head. What was going on, why I didn't talk about it, Cassie's hand in providing a temporary band aid before I almost completely lost it. I fill them in on most of the details. They don't need to know everything. All they need to know is that I'm okay now.

Mostly okay, anyway. At least I'm not seeing things anymore. It's the cost of my recovery that bothers me now.

Cassie begins to stir just as the sun sets and we hit the city limits of our destination. A look of relief crosses Dean's otherwise hardened face as she slowly comes to life.

"How are you feeling?" he asks her.

"I'm okay," she says slowly with a short yawn. "Where are we?"

I give her the name of the town and her body shoots upright, her eyes wide as she scrambles past me and to the front of the moving vehicle to get a good look at the bright city lights through the front windows. She kneels between Bobby and Jody as her eyes take in every building and tree.

"It can't be..." she whispers and I can almost hear her heart skip a beat.

"Hello to you too," Bobby comments from behind the steering wheel. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she shakes her head, her eyes still transfixed on scenery as it passes by. "It's just... I know this place."

"No," Dean shakes his head. "We've never been here before."

"I know," she agrees. "It's from my mom's memories. She was living here when she met my dad."

That's a weird coincidence. Except something tells me it's not a coincidence at all.

I watch as Cassie's expression twists from recognition into fear as she continues to gape out the windows from her place between Bobby and Jody. She eyes each and every pedestrian, biker and driver we pass and I can all but feel the terror rise within her gut.

"Demons," she whispers at last. Dean frowns.

"Where?" he asks as he joins her up front, his eyes between her and the down town stretch of road we're on.

"Everywhere," she tells him. "At least half these people are possessed."

"Wait, how can you tell?" Dean shakes his head in mild confusion. "I thought you said fixing Sammy would use up all of your powers."

"I miss calculated what abilities I gave up," she admits to him. "My mind is still open. I can still see the supernatural. Other than that, I feel... I feel... human."

Something is better than nothing, I guess.

"Okay," Dean accepts her response. "So we're outnumbered about a thousand to five. What's the plan?"

"I assume getting the friggin' hell out of here is not an option," Cassie speaks nervously.

"Nope," Dean confirms for her. "That's what smart people would do."

"I say we trap one," Bobby speaks up. "Get him to talk."

"They're all going the same way," she informs us.

"What? Really?" Jody pipes up from the passenger's seat. "You think they're gathering?"

"That's what it sounds like," Bobby speculates. "What way they goin'?"

"West," Cassie speaks without hesitance. "They're heading west."

So we follow them, trailing slowly behind as inconspicuously as a full sized van can allow. When we reach the outskirts of the small mountain city we ditch the van behind an abandoned gas station and continue on foot. Carrying our fair share of supplies - holy water, salt, guns and Dean's special demon knife - the five of us walk with a thick and heavy silence. It feels like we're marching towards certain death.

Cassie, while mostly awake, is still exhausted from the uneasy task of fixing my soul and has a hard time keeping pace with us. So Dean patiently lags behind with her, helping her weary body along by offering his strong arm as a crutch for her to lean on. If, by some miracle, we survive tonight and we manage to stop Adelay from destroying the earth, I hope Dean keeps her around. She keeps him leveled and happier than I think I've ever seen him. There's also the fact she truly understands a hunter's life and, let's be honest, the only relationship that could ever work for Dean would have to be with another hunter.

A mile or two goes by before we reach the end of our demon trail. Ducking behind trees and thick bushes we watch with a sinking feeling in each of our guts as demons by the hundreds gather silently around a steep hill. Easily we're looking at a thousand of these dark and twisted beasts as they gather around the grassy mound and wait. What they wait for I can't say. None of us are sure we really want to stick around to see. This is certain suicide.

"What are they doing?" Jody whispers at last, her fingers wrapped tightly around a jug of holy water.

"I don't know," Bobby mutters back, his attention between the army before us and the woods behind us. "But I keep waiting for one of 'em to jump out from behind and haul us up that hill."

"So what's the plan?" Jody questions.

"We wait and see what happens," Dean replies in a low tone. "I'm not gonna run out there with guns blazing if they're just waiting for a Black Sabbath show or something."

The words are barely out of his mouth when Adelay appears from thin air. He stands firm on top of this great hill, looking out over the gathering that surrounds him on the earth below. Cassie's first reaction is to run out and save her brother from this awful scenario he's stumbled upon and I'm certain she would if Dean didn't stop her, holding her back with a single but firm arm.

It hits me when the demons stand at attention at his arrival. They're not here for Adelay. They're here _with _him_._


	23. 23 - Cassandra

**Cassandra**

I'm having a hard time comprehending what I'm seeing. My own brother stands before us with an entire army of demons at his command and I can't tell what's worse; him trying to kill our dad or the fact he wanted it so badly he's working with demons. Most likely he's dealing with Crowley directly.

He's more like dad than he'll ever be willing to admit.

"Castiel!" Adelay yells with a bellowing voice that echoes into the night. "Father! I'm here! Surrounded by a thousand demons! Will you not come for me now!?"

He's trying to call dad out.

I can't let him do this.

I struggle free from Dean's grip and run fearlessly through the demonic crowd. Strangely the demons do not grab at me, but rather part and allow me to pass easily and unharmed.

"Cassie, no!" Dean shouts as he dashes after me with Sam hot on his heels. I can't stop.

"Adelay!" I scream as I charge up the steep hill. "Stop!"

My brother watches my ascent with a mild look of amusement laced somewhere between the rage that's eaten away at him his entire existence.

"Cassandra," he nods as I approach. "You look different." He pauses as a small, delighted smile spreads across his lips. "You've lost your powers."

"Adelay, you have to stop this," I beg of him, ignoring his observations. "You can't kill dad."

"Really?" Adelay rolls his eyes. "I don't see anyone here that can stop me. Not now."

He narrows his eyes at me but holds a maniacal smile. I freeze and my heart all but stops. I can hear Dean and Sam grow closer and closer and I find myself wishing they hadn't followed me.

"You're not going to kill me," I half state, half hope.

"You're right," Adelay nods. "I'm not sure I could."

He quickly draws a long silver knife from the back pocket of his jeans.

"But I can kill him."

With a steady aim he draws his blade back and effortlessly hurls it in my general direction. It sails past my head and lands with a sickening thud somewhere behind me. When I turn around and see where the blade rests, I want to throw up.

Dean drops to the ground, the entire blade of my brother's knife sunk deep in his chest. Where his heart should be.

"_No_!" the words escape my lips in a terrified scream as I bolt to him, dropping to my knees beside his fallen body. Sam too rushes to his brother's aid, taking a firm grasp of his hand. Dean's eyes roll as he heavily gasps his final breaths, a look of shock and pain plastered across his face.

"Dean, no!" I cry as tears flood without restraint from my eyes.

"Sammy..." he chokes. "Promise... don't bring me back... 'kay?" He pauses, his dimming eyes trying to focus upon me. "Cassie. Everything's... gonna be alright..."

Just as his eyes grow cold and glossy, he uses his last breath to whisper three final words.

"I... love... you..."

His chest stops and his body goes limp. No... no, he can't be.

Desperation gets the best of me and I find myself removing the knife from his chest. Frantically I place my hands over his wound and try like hell to heal him. But I can't. No matter how hard I try or how badly I want to fix him, I can't. He's really gone.

"I see I missed quite a show," an unfamiliar voice with an interesting accent comes from behind me. "Guess that's what I get for being fashionably late."

"Crowley," Adelay speaks sharply. "You're late."

I listen as I stare through tear soaked eyes at Dean's expired body before me, struggling to resist the absolute sorrow that attempts to engulf me. I need to stay focused...

"Yes, I just said that," Crowley speaks. "Doesn't look like I missed too much. Castiel isn't even here yet."

"I called for him," Adelay explains and I can feel my blood boiling beneath my skin.

"He won't come if he doesn't think you're in danger," the demon king tells him.

Only Adelay is in danger. Of me.

The knife that killed Dean finds its way into my blood stained hands and, with every ounce of strength I can gather, I charge my brother with a wild yell. I don't get far at all when the dark haired demon I assume to be Crowley snaps his fingers. This small, simple little motion triggers his entire army to rush up the hill towards Sam and me.

It doesn't stop me. What stops me is the white hot light that appears before me. It releases a blast of energy that takes down each and every demon, save for Crowley, leaving them to wither and howl in pain as they burn from the inside out. When the light gives way, I can make out the features of his handsome face and my heart stops. I've never seen him until now.

Dad.

I don't know if I want to hug him or stab him.

"Hello, Cassandra," he tells me in a deep voice. "I've been looking forward to meeting you."

Is it wrong the first words I want to say to my father are "go fuck yourself"?


	24. 24 - Castiel

**A/N: Before you start thinking I'm a heartless wench, you should know I cried a little when I wrote that last chapter. That's probably too much information.**

**Last chapter. Enjoy!**

**Castiel**

Cassandra does not look very pleased to see me. I suppose I can understand why; Dean, her companion during her ten months on this earth, is laying dead just feet behind her. I won't tell her where he's going. Something tells me if she knew what I had done with her lover's soul, she'd never forgive me.

The way she looks at me, I know she suffers a broken heart. While I can tell she feels partially to blame, mostly she blames me. She wants to scream at me, she wants to cry and tell me to bring him back. But I can't. A deal is a deal.

I watch my daughter's blue eyes flash from me to my son. I don't have to look to know he's rushing me with a surge of raw and hateful energy. I've known since his existence he's been looking for me, hunting me down. He hasn't exactly been stealthy about it, especially once he formed a partnership with Crowley. I never ended their elaborate and "secret" plan to destroy me because I wanted to believe Adelay would change his mind and I wouldn't have to do this...

Adelay bursts into a gory mess of blood and guts with the energy of a mere thought.

I really didn't want to have to do that. But I couldn't just let him kill me.

Cassandra's face twists with horror and an incredible anguish I've seen only once before on one other person. Her mother. I find myself faltering for a fleeting moment as a sharp tinge of regret strikes. What have I done?

I shake it off. I still have matters to attend to here.

"No!" Cassandra screams as Sam holds her back. "**NO**! You bastard! You... you son of a bitch..."

She struggles against Sam's restraints for a minuet before the sorrow overtakes her human body and she falls to her knees in a fit of tears. Sam stoops to comfort her, fighting his own set of tears that threaten to spill for his fallen brother as he tightly wraps his strong arms around my daughter's small frame. I watch as Bobby crests the hill with his new lady friend, Jody, just behind him, their faces falling and their hearts all but stopping when they see Dean's lifeless body and the mess of what used to be my son.

This scene is nearly too heartbreaking to watch.

"Did you really think you could kill me?" I turn my disapproving gaze upon the demon king who cowers, though not as much I would have expected under the extreme circumstances.

"Not really," he admits, his tone unusually calm. "I did think I could distract you for long enough for him to catch up, though."

I follow Crowley's gaze and find Death standing just behind me.

"Hello, Castiel," he speaks to me with a polite nod. His gaze wanders to Dean for a moment before he looks to Cassandra who continues to sob uncontrollably in Sam's strong embrace.

"Pity," he comments. "I seem to have arrived too late."

"Death, what are you doing here?" I skip the formalities on my end. "Surely you do not mean to kill me?"

"Goodness no," he shakes his bony head, his eyes returning to me. "Haven't you heard? It would destroy the world."

"Then what are you doing here?" I demand to know.

"I'm here to strip you of your powers," he tells me quite bluntly.

"I'd like to see you try," I challenge. I go to lift a finger to dismiss him but find I cannot. I have been bound by invisible chains, courtesy of Death himself. I shoot Crowley an intense glare, attempting to bring him the same fate I brought upon Raphael and Adelay, but I can't even exorcise him.

"You've been working with demons?" I shoot Death an angry accusation.

"Hardly," he rolls his eyes. "We agreed your powers had to go. He merely provided a necessary distraction." He pauses to shoot a less than pleased glance in Crowley's direction. "Although things did get a little messier than anticipated."

"Never underestimate how much blood a demon is willing to shed to get what he wants," Crowley reminds the ancient entity that keeps me bound and powerless. "Now, can we please get on with it? I've got some new souls I'm just dying to play with in the pit."

"Very well," Death nods. "Hold very still, Castiel. This will hurt."

No. No, they can't take my powers. I've lost too much to get here and I've only just begun.

I attempt to struggle against the unseen restraints that bind me as Death slowly inches towards me with a black, leather bag in one hand and a long silver dagger in the other.

"No," I beg him. "Please, Death. You can't..."

He pays little attention to my pleas. Instead he makes a long and deep incision into my gut. For a minuet nothing happens. And then comes the hot white light, spewing with a searing pain from the open wound at a rapid rate. Death quietly collects this light, these souls, into his sturdy black bag with a gentle hand and an incredible concentration.

When the souls have been collected, Death removes my shackles and I collapse to my knees on the earth beneath me. And it all hits me, like a typhoon or a hurricane. The blood on my hands, the agonizing pain, everything I've brought upon those I loved the most. Without those souls from Purgatory, I fully grasp what exactly I've done. And it's awful. It's worse than awful. It's so bad there's not even a word for it.

I abandoned and endangered Adeline when she needed me the most. I caused the burden of the heavy and eternal grief she still feels and I broke her heart. My children I also abandoned and almost completely ignored because of my sick obsession of cleansing the earth of men I thought to be wicked. I see now that I am the wicked one. Only an evil being could betray his best friend, ignore his daughter and murder his son. Only a truly horrible entity would induce so much suffering upon those closest to him.

My chest tightens as I glance over at my daughter. She looks at me through blue eyes glossy with tears, holding onto Sam as if her life depends upon it. Of all the people I've hurt, she suffers the most.

"I'm... I'm sorry..." I gasp.

"I must get these back to Purgatory," Death tells whomever is listening. "Post haste. Cassandra, I'm terribly sorry for what you've had to endure today. I was hoping Castiel had it in him to spare at least his own son."

He gives me a long look of disgust and disappointment.

"As for the rest of you, I suggest you find yourselves away from here in a timely fashion. With a thousand dead, we need this to look a little more natural." Pause. "There's a meteoroid scheduled to strike here in an hour."

His message delivered, Death vanishes, leaving Crowley to steal the spotlight.

"I'll be going too," he announces, striding triumphant and smug in my direction. "Just so you're aware, this does not make us even. I will be coming for you."

"Why not take me now?" I growl up at him.

"I think she's seen enough of her family perish for one day," he tells me, motioning to Cassandra. "Besides, I want you to suffer before I kill you." Pause. "Oh, I almost forgot."

A sly smile spreads across his lips as he looks down at me, an intense hatred gleaming in his dark eyes.

"Oh, Adeline!" he calls.

My heart rate increases as my chest grows even tighter when she appears at the demon king's side. She gives me a sad look before she eyes Cassandra who looks to her mother in horror and shock.

"I'm sorry, Cassandra," Adeline says, her words no more audible than a whisper.

"Come along then," Crowley tells my love, looping his arm around hers. "See you soon, Castiel."

"Adeline, no!" I cry after her but she's gone, along with Crowley, leaving me in a state of absolute remorse and horror at the things my actions have caused.

Slowly I rise to my feet, my body weighted with lament and guilt as I shuffle towards my daughter. Cassandra does not speak but stares up at me through bloodshot eyes with an angry distaste as she quivers in sorrow and rage between Sam's arms.

"Cassandra, I am so sorry..." I try to begin, but I know this can't even begin to make anything right.

"Can you fix him?" she wants to know, speaking through a clenched jaw. She's not talking about Adelay, she's talking about Dean. Either way, what's done is done and I cannot help either of them now. My silence is my answer and she turns away from me.

I look to Sam who stares up at me, his eyes laced with hurt and distrust. I cannot blame him for this. The nightmares he saw were all because of me and, when it comes to his brother's death, I am at fault there too.

"Sam, I'm sorry," I say sincerely but my words mean nothing to him.

"I swear, Cassandra," I look to her once more. "I will make everything right again. I promise."

She doesn't look at me. She doesn't believe me. But I mean it. I do not have the distraction of ultimate power to hold me back this time. Now I have the gut wrenching guilt and the determination to correct my awful mistakes.

Starting with Adeline. I'm coming for you, my love. If it takes me the rest of eternity, I will pull you from Hell. I know I didn't tell you this as often as I should have and I know my ways of showing it to you have been strange, but I love you. And I'm going to prove it. I promise.

**TBC... (Yeah, I'm evil like that)**


End file.
